Silver Screen
by herecomesthepun
Summary: in which Annabeth is a YouTuber with a penchant for Harry Potter sweaters and Percy is a rockstar who falls in love with the clumsy web star presenting his award. Percabeth, AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

"They've all got the same heartbeat but hers is falling behind  
Nothing in this world could ever bring them down  
Yeah, they're invincible"

– Cool Kids, Echosmith

* * *

"I can't believe this," Thalia mutters.

Percy tries for a smile. "At least we're not going to prison?"

"As if that's going to do anything for the crapstorm the media is going to whirl up tomorrow," Nico tells him matter-of-factly.

"That's not necessarily my fault."

Thalia glares at him half-heartedly. She still looks menacing but there's no effort in it – she's just as tired as he is. Normally this time they'd be asleep. Or doing press. Or whatever. Point is, today they should be asleep, and it'd be the first spot of sleep any of them would have gotten in the last 48 hours. Percy has been running on cheap motel coffee and Twix bars for the past day or so and he's about ready to collapse.

Maybe that's what caused him to shoplift. His ADHD always gets particularly antsy when he's tired.

The police should take that into account. Mitigating circumstances, or whatever.

He digresses.

"Could've fooled me." Thalia sighs and leans her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. "You're so stupid, I can't believe you did this."

"I didn't think I'd get _arrested_!"

"What about stealing an album and then _punching the storeowner in the face_ when he catches you sounds even _slightly_ legal?"

"It was _our_ album!"

"That's even worse," Nico says. "You literally have the entire album saved on your computer. In _Logic Pro_ form. You could have just emailed it to your mom!"

"I wanted her to have the physical thing!"

"So you decided to _steal_ it?" Thalia demanded.

Look, okay. Percy realises in hindsight that stealing an album was probably not the best way to go about things. But in his defense, it's not as if he had much of a choice. And he didn't _think_ it was illegal. Of course, he knew that stealing was against the law, but it was _their_ album. By default Percy thinks he has complete ownership over it, meaning that if he wants to take it without handing over any money he has the right to do so. Twelve dollars is really not that much money compared to the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into writing, recording and producing the album.

In fact, Target should be thanking him. It was _their_ album that brought in customers, after all.

Anyway. As it all turns out, he was wrong. And Percy knows this because the three of them are now locked in a holding cell.

"I still don't quite understand why you also had to rope _us_ into this," Thalia mutters.

"To be fair," Nico says, "we did agree."

"Whose side are you on, di'Angelo?"

Nico rolls his eyes. "Look, Thals. Percy messed up and now we all have to pay the price. You've got to get over it."

Thalia sighs. "Mr D is going to have our heads."

"If he didn't want me to steal the CD he should have just given it to me when I asked," Percy mutters sulkily. "In all honesty."

"You should have known that stealing was wrong in the first place," Thalia points out.

"Oh, I did. I'm not daft. I just thought– you know. There'd be some exceptions. Like, maybe there would be, I dunno, some special circumstances that would mean that it's not illegal to steal something that you put in stores."

Thalia's eye twitches. "It's kind of common sense."

Her voice is tight. She sounds stretched-out and peeved, which Percy reasons with, because the rockstar life is no easy feat and they are only nineteen, after all. And he's not going to lie – he knows that this is a much, much bigger deal then what he's making it out to be. When you're famous, getting arrested is no small deal, especially when your whole band manages to get arrested at once (Percy doubts that's ever happened before – what will the headlines be? Threesome In Prison? That kind of rhymes, right?) but he's so jetlagged and tired that at this point everything just seems kind of hysterically funny.

Thalia probably thinks otherwise. She's not very laughable when she's tired. She just kind of snaps at everyone. It's probably why she's so hacked up about this whole thing.

"Leave him alone, T," Nico says. "It's not his fault he's got the brain capacity of a toaster."

Percy lets out an affronted squeaky noise. "Excuse _you_!"

"With all due respect, of course."

Thalia rolls her eyes. Percy is still very deeply wounded.

"Do you know what time we're getting out?" she asks.

Nico shrugs. "The police person didn't say anything."

Thalia sighs again, and for the first time Percy notices that the black smudges under her eyes aren't just smeared eyeliner. Out of everyone he thinks the celebrity lifestyle has taken its toll heaviest on her, and suddenly he feels awful. "They'll probably keep us here overnight and release us in the morning, then."

Nico stares at her. " _What_?"

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Are you _now_ beginning to realise how sucky this is?"

Nico's voice becomes squeaky. "Overnight? But– we were meant to be sleeping in a bed tonight!"

"Yes, well, Percy probably should have thought of that before he dragged us to Target and stole our own album and then punched the security guard in the face when he confronted us."

Percy frowns. "It was an accident," he mutters sulkily.

He does feel bad, though. Really. For the past three months they've been on tour, and when you're on tour the only sleep you get is a three-hour power nap in a cramped bunk. The last time they slept in a proper bed was last week. If Percy hadn't gotten them arrested they probably would have had a bed to sleep on.

Especially since they're in Portland. Portland always has really great hotels.

Percy doubts they would have even had to share, and that makes his heart hurt a little. When funds are low and hiring out a couple extra rooms is just too much they often shove all three of them in the same room, which more often than not is a couple's suite with a double bed ("it costs less if they think there's only two of you up there," Hermes had explained. "And you're all skinny, you can fit in one bed.").

The thought that Percy has to give up sleeping in his own bed because of his stupidity really makes sad.

"I'm sorry," he says.

Thalia sighs again, but this time it's more defeat than irritation now, and she pushes herself off her bench and plops down on the ground next to him. Nico wriggles in on his other side and puts his head on his shoulder. It's all bones and too-long limbs and they're sitting on the floor of a prison cell, for goodness sake, but the sentiment is nice and Percy kind of loves them.

"It's okay," Thalia says. "Just– next time you want to go outside check it's legal, all right?"

"I'm not three years old."

Nico snorts. "I'd beg to differ."

"Shut up, your face is stupid."

"You're stupid."

"You're stupider."

"You're the stupidest."

"Will you both please shut the hell up?"

* * *

Okay, so. Background is probably necessary.

Percy hadn't ever imagined getting big. He hadn't even ever imagined he'd form a band, least of all with his _cousins_. Up until he was around fourteen, he had only talked to both of them a handful of times. That was, however, until something like fate or destiny or the god of physics had sent all three push pins all their dads had thrown at a map of the US to Virginia, where they were going to send all their kids because they were lousy excuses for dads who had gallons of money and secretaries who could research good boarding schools.

(The family situation is a bit funny. Percy's not going to go into it, because it's, well, a little complex, but long story short everyone hated each other because of some long tragic backstory involving Thalia's mom, a long-lost brother, a couple of step-siblings they had no idea existed and maybe thirty grandparents who were in some way related to them through a horribly messy bloodline, but that's another story.)

Anyway.

Percy had been playing guitar since he was nine. When they met at boarding school, Thalia had taken an interest in music so Percy had tried to teach her how to play, but they were two hyperactive teenagers with ADHD and so obviously it nosedived almost immediately. Percy had then shown her the bass guitar, because she liked death metal and heavy punk-rock music and destroying dreams. She took to it like duck to water and somehow applied everything Percy had taught her about the acoustic to the bass.

Nico... well. No one's really sure how he started on the drums. Percy reckons it's because he had always liked tapping on things ("I used to bang on the coffins at Dad's company," Nico tells them confidently, as if the fact that Hades let him tap out Mary Had A Little Lamb on the boxes containing dead people was a fantastic thing) but one day Percy had walked into the music room to find him doing the American Idiot drum solo on the school drum set and from there they had found out they were cousins and became pretty solid mates.

It's a little odd. Whenever an interviewer asks them how they started they all just say that they met because they were cousins. They don't say anything about how they were all accidentally sent to the same place and had a Parent Trap-esque revelation that they were all related because that's just– confusing. For everyone.

Eventually, they ended up posting covers on YouTube. Percy absolutely hates watching them back because they're absolutely terrible (oh god what even was his hair _who told him that he could do the emo fringe_ ) and they make him want to throw himself off a building, but they must have been enough because one day someone somehow took a look at their measly little channel and thought, _huh, I could make something out of these kids._

And here they are. Four years later. A band. All currently locked in a holding cell. Whatever.

(He doesn't like to dwell on the negatives.)

It's been a pretty sick ride, as far as fame and nosy paparazzi go. They've put out a few albums, won a couple of awards, and they haven't even turned twenty yet. Which is both a positive and a negative, because that means every time they do something stupid they can blame it on the "crazy teenage mindset" but also a bit of a bummer because they can't legally drink yet. Not that he was ever considering it or anything, but after this certain escapade he thinks he's going to respect the law a bit more now.

It does make post-award show celebrations a little funny, though. Most people drink champagne or hit the clubs and get drunk off their arses. Not them. They sit in whatever hotel room they've hired out for that night and eat yoghurt.

It's nice to know that after all this time they're still _them_ , though. Eating yoghurt as a celebration had been something they had introduced while they were still at boarding school. They weren't allowed food in the dorms (which Percy realises should have not stopped them as much as it did, because another no-no was boys and girls in each other's dorms and, well) and because everything else was too bulky to sneak upstairs they would cram yoghurt pots from the cafeteria down their jumpers ("I don't have pockets in my shirt like you guys, of course I'm gonna shove them in my bra, stop looking so scandalized") and eat them at midnight whenever one of them had gotten a good mark in a test or had managed to hit one of the teachers in the head with a baseball and pass it off as an accident.

It was only fair they continued the tradition as rockstars.

Anyway.

They're a band now. A pretty successful band, too, because awards have been won and rumours have been spread ("Did you know I'm pregnant with your child, Nico? Isn't that fascinating?") and through it all they've stuck together like glue and managed to survive the crapstorm you call the media.

And it's a good life. Percy wouldn't swap it for the world. Last year he bought his mom a house. A _house_. With _two bathrooms_. They've made their money and they're doing their thing and he absolutely loves it, loves doing what he's doing, loves playing to a different crowd every night and making his fingers bleed on his guitar strings.

Just– sometimes it can be a wee bit stressful.

Like now, for instance. He can safely say Mr D is going to strangle him with his own intestines, and there are going to be all sorts of tabloid headlines going around about why and how the three of them ended up in prison at the same time. (He hopes one of them will be about them being a cult of serial killers. It's happened before and it's always fascinating to read the theories. Sometimes he even believes it.)

Oh well. He closes his eyes and leans his head against Nico's. They've been given three beds but for some reason they're all still huddled on the floor. Nico and Thalia have both dropped off. He's about to, too.

He can deal with the aftermath tomorrow.

* * *

The aftermath is actually not– terrible?

Apparently no one yet has caught wind that they've been arrested (which is a little odd, considering they got dragged off by security in a busy shop), because if they had there would have been news already, so all they have to do is leave subtly. Which is easier said than done.

"This is ridiculous," Thalia mutters. "This is so, so stupid. We're going to get caught and people are going to know we got arrested and it's going to be the end of our career."

"Relax," Percy soothes. "No one knows yet."

"Someone here could have tipped the press off!"

Now she's the one being ridiculous. Percy gives her a look. "No one here is stupid enough to do that."

"You don't know that," Nico says. "After all, you were stupid enough to steal our album."

"Why don't you just shut your face."

"Just saying."

"You're not listening to me!" Thalia insists. "This is a massive deal. Why aren't you taking this seriously?"

"You're taking it _too_ seriously," Percy tells her. "Honestly, it's fine. No one told anyone. We're going to walk away with our records unscratched."

Thalia still looks worried. Her black hair is all clumped around her head in tufts, although that may be from sleeping on his shoulder the entire night, and Percy sees that she's chewed her nails right down to the quick. Even her ever-present eyeliner has been smeared around her eyes like bruises, and that's incredibly impressive considering Thalia because she has managed to play shows and walk away with her makeup untouched.

Wildly, she looks around, and her eyes fall on a security guard. She marches over to him.

"Have you told anyone?" she demands.

The security guard is twice her size and has biceps like buses but he takes one look at her ripped jeans and death stare and cowers like she's eight feet tall.

"No, ma'am," he stammers. "We were given orders to remain silent."

Percy gives Thalia a pointed look. "See!"

"That doesn't mean anything, the press always have ways to find out things. Remember that time we lost Nico in New York and the only reason we found him again was because TMZ got there first?"

"I remember that," Nico says. "That was weird. Even I didn't know where I was."

Thalia ignores him. "Point is," she says, "they're going to find out one way or another, and we've got the TCAs in like, two weeks! Do you know how bad that would be?"

"Then we'll just tell them the truth," Percy says. "It's not as if we killed someone. We can spin it into a funny thing. 'Oh, the superhot Percy Jackson was hilarious yet again in a stunt he pulled in a Portland Target where he thought he was allowed to steal his own album. What a joker! Next up we'll be talking about his abs. Toodles!' It's literally that easy."

Nico snorts. "What abs?"

Thalia gnaws her thumbnail. "We're going to be in so much crap."

"That's a problem for another time," Percy says. "Focus on the good things. Like, um." He looks around and catches sight of the security guard again. "You! What's your name?"

The security guard looks a little taken off guard. The other guard, almost identical to the first except dark-skinned, snorts. "Um," he says. "Steve."

"Steve." Percy nods. "Good name."

"Uh. Thanks."

Percy turns back to Thalia. "See! Be positive."

Thalia pulls a hideous face at him.

"Yeah, Thalia," Nico says. "Be positive. Try compliment Steve."

"I like your tattoos, Steve."

The other guard actually laughs out loud this time. Steve looks bashful but also a little pleased. "Thank you."

Percy looks back at Thalia. "That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

"I still don't feel better."

"You should." Percy sobers a little and shuffles closer to her, slinging his arm around her shoulders. "It's honestly gonna be okay, T. I promise. If we get caught, who cares? Yeah, we'll have to make a public statement and Mr D might eat us alive, but we really aren't going to get into any trouble. We stole an album."

"You stole an album," Nico corrects.

"I stole an album. I stole _our_ album." Thalia doesn't look any more reassured, so Percy says, "Look. I got us into this mess. I'll get us out, I promise you."

Finally, she doesn't look like she wants his head on a plate. "Okay."

"Okay. Do you feel a bit better?"

"Kind of."

"Cool. Now let's get out of here, I'm absolutely starving."

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **i hope you liked that and also welcome to my new story hello how are you**

 **yes anyway this is my new story! as you can tell from the summary this a famous!au that consists of youtuber!annabeth and band!percy (is that a thing i don't know) and i really hope you guys enjoy it because ive been toying with this idea for a few months now and im having a jolly good time writing it haha**

 **Update-wise I'll try and do what i did with iSpy and update every Saturday except I've now entered the monstrosity that is year 10 and my English teacher said and i quote "do what you enjoy now because by the end of the year youll be doing at least three hours of revision a night" so a) pray for me and b) if this story isn't wrapped up by next year i may be a little odd with updates woo**

 **anyway! i hope you liked it and please tell me what you thought, and i shall see you beans next Saturday xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Now you're all dressed up and you're ready to go for a ride  
Turning heads in your brand new dress"

– Silver Screen Romance, Good Charlotte

* * *

"Can you please hold still?" the hair girl asks crossly.

Percy flinches as she rakes her long nails through his hair and catches his ear. "Sorry."

Across the room, Thalia starts to laugh. "He couldn't stay still if you taped him to his chair."

"Hey!"

"Trust me, I know," the hair girl mutters.

Percy glares at Thalia. She gives him a simpering, sweet smile, beaming as her own hair girl splits her hair into a side parting and starts braiding the shorter side into a plait that twists against her head. It's really quite unfair, Percy thinks to himself. Since Thalia has more hair than them and more to do with it, she naturally has a larger hair team, and somehow out of the four hair stylists she was assigned absolutely zero of them are horrible. In fact, they're all massively pleasant. One time when they were at a photoshoot and Thalia was having her picture taken in front of a spray-painted wall Percy and one of her hair stylists played a very intense game of Go Fish until it was his turn.

Percy personally only has one hair girl. And she's– interesting.

"Percy," she threatens in a low voice. "Come on, man, just work with me."

He slumps down in his seat. "Sorry."

She picks up a can of hairspray and shakes it around. "It's the TCAs. If you don't want to turn up looking like a dishevelled dog I'd suggest you stop wriggling."

"GC Magazine once said that my dishevelled dog hair was hot."

Nico chokes on his coffee. "Since _when_?"

"A year ago, I reckon? It was in their summer edition. Look it up."

"I will."

"Percy," the hair girl says again, sighing.

"Sorry, sorry." He stares down at his feet. He hasn't put his shoes on yet so he's looking at the Yoda on his socks. The wardrobe lady, Aphrodite ("call me Aphy," she says, even though none of them ever do) said to wear black socks because apparently the several outfits she's got ready for them to choose between are mainly, surprise surprise, black, but Percy reckons that he'll be wearing his Converse anyway and if he pulls the tongue up far enough no one will see the Star Wars logo on the bridge of his foot.

"Close your eyes," the girl says.

"Huh?"

"Hairspray." She waves the can. "Eyes closed."

Obediently, Percy closes his eyes.

"Do you know what the article was called, Perce?" Nico asks.

"Not really. I think it was 'why Percy Jackson is an adorable pancake and must be protected at all times'."

Thalia snorts. "It was _not_ called that."

"Yes it was."

"Year?"

"2015."

"2015, cool." Percy hears a hairdryer switch on and somewhere vaguely near to him Nico starts to hum. It's nice and quiet in their dressing room now, the only sounds being the hairdryer and the low buzz of conversation. It's relaxing and Percy almost might have fallen asleep if it hadn't been for his hair girl's long plastic nails catching his ear every twenty seconds.

"Have you found it?" Percy asks.

"No," Nico says.

He opens one eye. "Yes, you have."

Nico huffs at his phone. "The article is stupid."

"What's it called?" Percy asks.

Nico sulks. "You know what it's called."

"I want to hear it again."

" _Why the Demigods lead singer is a cinnamon roll who must be protected_. And don't you ever make me repeat that awful line ever again."

Thalia pointedly stares down at her phone.

"You can open your eyes now," the hair girl says.

Percy opens his other eye and rolls his neck, sighing in relief as his joints click. He sees one of Thalia's stylists wince at the noise. "Oh, thank the heavens."

"If you even _think_ about messing it up I'll rip you a new one."

"Duly noted."

Percy leaps out of his chair, suddenly massively energized. Nico's hair had been finished a while back, so he was ready to go before him, leaning against the refreshments table and slowly picking at the profiteroles. He had made a sizeable dent in the pyramid they had been arranged in.

"Does your stomach ever end?" Percy asks.

"Not that I'm aware of." Nico takes another and keeps scrolling through his phone. "Do you know how many articles this magazine has written about you?"

"Six?"

"Thirty-two." Nico easily crams two profiteroles in his mouth at the same time. "Thirty two! How do they come up with that much to write about you?"

"It's probably my riveting personality and dashing good looks."

"I would make a joke except irritatingly you're not wrong. Eighteen of them are about how talented you are. Six are about your looks. Six more are about all the funny things you've said. One is about your eyes and one is about how adorable your relationship with us is."

"Twenty dollars chief editor has a crush on you," Thalia calls.

"It's like they're not aware there's another attractive funny male in the band," Nico continues, slightly grouchily. "Like, hello. What am I, chopped liver?"

Soothingly, Percy pats his shoulder. "Don't worry, Neeks. I bet if you look hard enough you'll find a magazine with an editor that has a crush on _you_."

Nico pouts. "Unlikely. All the magazine pictures I've seen us in always use the most hideous pictures of me. It's like– come on. There's that picture of me chilling by the pool, you know, cool hair, nice lighting, legs look good, but _no_ , they always seem to pick that god-awful photo of us when we're jumping off that wall, and you two look great because of course you do and then sandwiched between you two is me looking like I'm seconds away from projectile vomiting."

"If it makes you feel any better," Thalia says, "at this moment in time both you and Percy look equally disgusting."

Percy frowns. "Hey!"

"You're literally just in socks and underwear."

Percy glances at his body. He had completely forgotten that he was half-naked. "Oh, yeah."

"You're also just in socks and underwear," Nico points out.

"But my hair looks cool," Thalia says. She steps out of her chair once her stylists give her the nod of approval and pads over to them. Her hair does look pretty cool, Percy will admit – it's been braided against her head in a faux undercut. "And we all know that I'm prettier than both of you, so of course I win." She tilts her head towards the door. "Now come on, we need to get our clothes on so we can sound-check."

* * *

The TCAs are in full swing by the time they roll up.

Mr D had booked them a limousine, so they could arrive in style, except because things happen and things also go wrong they ended up accidentally missing the limousine and had to get their appointed driver Argus to drive them in a mom-van while they ran through the set they would be performing in the backseat. Nico drummed on the back of Argus's seat and Percy had to use a ukulele instead of his acoustic because he couldn't fit it in the backseat alongside Thalia's bass.

Altogether, it was a bit of a mess. There was that bit where a fan noticed Thalia through one of the windows and started screeching and Argus had to take a drastic hairpin turn to avoid getting mobbed and Nico nearly shoved his own drumstick up his nose, and then also the part where they had genuinely started worrying they would miss it because of the traffic that started piling up on the freeway.

But thankfully, they got there eventually. And Percy's fingers had only been crushed twice, which he considered an improvement.

Argus had to park on one of the backstreets so the news outlets didn't catch wind of them arriving in a minibus. There had already been enough scandal about the sort-of arrest (turns out, it _had_ gotten out, but luckily everyone seemed to find it mainly hilarious) ("you better thank God that it ended up that way," Mr D threatened, "or I promise you I would have turned you inside out") and they really didn't need any more mundane press about how the hottest band of the summer turned up to the TCAs in a car with a BABY ON BOARD bumper sticker. Percy, Nico and Thalia sneak through the venue and appear on the other side at the carpet, slightly tousled but okay.

Which is a good thing. Because you need a lot of emotional and physical strength to handle the quick-fire interviewers before the show starts, and if they had been anything less than prepared Percy reckons a simple "how you feeling about tonight" could have sent them into hysterics.

"That was traumatic," Nico mutters as they arrange themselves in a line. Cameras start flashing and people start yelling as they catch sight of them, and Percy forces a smile as he tosses an arm around Thalia's shoulder and pushes his spare hand into his front pocket.

"Yeah," he mutters out of the side of his mouth. "Let's not go on a last-minute YouTube binge next time."

"You think?" Thalia scoffs, stretching a smile across her face as someone shouts at them to look their way. "When I said soundcheck I meant soundcheck. Not 'let's do a crappy last-minute run through of some of our songs'."

"Be positive," Nico says through his teeth. "There are cameras."

Thalia bares her teeth. Privately, Percy thinks she more looks like she's about to take a bite out of his arm than she does like she's smiling, but he mentions that she probably will end up taking a bite out of his arm so he remains silent.

Suddenly, there are another roar of screams, and Percy looks to his right to see someone else has joined them on the carpet, which is their cue to shuffle downwards towards the interviews. He doesn't recognise the newcomer. She's very pretty, with long curly blonde hair, and she's wearing a beautiful turquoise dress and black heels. Absently, he wonders who she is.

Before he can dwell on her any further, Thalia subtly pulls at his arm and drags him away. He quickly diverts his attention so he doesn't end up face planting straight on the ground.

The interviewers are aggressive as always. Sally once referred to them as "wild animals", and at the time Percy had thought she was just being overprotective as always, because when you're seventeen your mom is nothing but a clucking mother hen, but nineteen has showed him the gruesome side of fame and he now knows what she means. A woman in a skin-tight red dress prowls the carpet with a camera crew behind her. A presenter in glasses practically bellows in a poor girl's face.

It's equally fascinating as it is dangerous and Percy wonders why he wore his best jeans. He's had a few pairs torn before by some prying hands that just won't let go.

"The Demigods!" someone yells, and they all turn as they see a man in a grey tuxedo approaching them with a camera and a microphone. "How good to see you guys!"

Nico squeaks in fear. Percy pinches him to remind him to smile.

The man comes right up close to them and the camera is shoved in their faces. Percy is suddenly very aware that they were in such a rush to leave that the makeup team forgot to put concealer on his cheeks and forehead and now his acne is probably in high definition on live TV. "Teen Choice Awards 2017!" he shouts. "How is it for you?"

Thalia answers. She's normally always the one to steer the conversation. "It's good," she says. "Overwhelming and a bit loud but it's good. Nico saw Little Mix by the doors and he's still recovering."

"They're absolutely gorgeous, to be fair," Nico says.

The man forces a laugh. "Hilarious! So! You guys feeling confident for tonight? You're performing, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Thalia says. "A couple of songs. We're performing a few new songs from our album for the first time since its release so that's pretty cool, I reckon."

"What awards are you up for?"

"Song of the summer," Percy says. "But I doubt we'll win, we're up against some jolly good artists."

"Where's your faith?" Nico asks.

The man bares his teeth in what Percy thinks is supposed to resemble a grin. "Hilarious! Well, best of luck, lads!"

Thalia coughs.

The man doesn't correct himself. "You all look fantastic, too, by the way," he says. "What's the inspiration behind these looks, Nico?"

"Um." Nico looks down at his clothes. "The colour black?"

The man fake-laughs again. Percy kind of hates his laugh. "Hilarious! I love how you all match!"

Thalia shuffles her feet. Her expression tells Percy he's not the only one mildly fed up by this interviewer. "Yes, um. Well. That's kind of what happens in a band."

If he picks up on her sarcasm, he doesn't mention anything. "Hilarious! Well, I'll let you all go now. Good luck for the awards and your performance! I'll be rooting for you!"

"Hilarious," Nico comments, deadpan, and Percy chokes on his laughter so suddenly that he almost retches up his lungs.

The man, somehow, doesn't pick up on the mockery. He beams at them, big and wide, like he genuinely thinks Nico had called him hilarious and meant it, and nods to the cameraman and heads off back into the throng of people. For a few precious moments, they're left alone, and Percy is so relieved he doesn't have to play it up for the camera any more that his first words are, "Holy crap I'm sweaty."

"Well, it is twenty eight degrees," Thalia says drily. "And you're wearing a leather jacket."

Percy fans himself. "The sacrifices I make to look good."

Frankly, he's surprised she isn't sweating. She's wearing black ripped jeans and a Green Day shirt with a cropped jacket over the top, which isn't far from what he's dolled out in, except most of her hair is down and over her neck and she's wearing clunky Doc Martens and Percy knows for a fact that the bra under her is padded and so tight when she takes it off later she's going to have a puddle drop straight to the floor. However, she looks as cool as a cucumber. He doesn't even think she's sweating.

Nico flaps the collar of his jacket in his face. "I'm so hot, crikey. When can we go inside?"

"Soon, hopefully," Percy says. "We've only been here a few minutes but if I have to talk to another interviewer like that I might tear my hair out."

" _Hilarious_ ," Thalia imitates.

"Don't," Nico says. "I'm already having war flashbacks."

"I still can't believe you said 'hilarious' straight to his face," Percy says. "Our fans are going to go berserk."

Nico waves his hand. "Ah, entertainment. They'll love it. Because they love me." He pauses. "Even if I don't have thirty-two GC Magazine articles dedicated to me."

Percy groans. "Are you _still_ hung up about that?"

"Can you blame me?" Nico cries as another interviewer starts the deadly walk up to them, brandishing her microphone. "It's massively unfair! I think my eyes are rather dreamy too!"

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **sorry this is a little short this week has been a LOT my pals a lot i tell u (i had my first full week of year 10 and gosh it's serious now everyone has binders and folders it's massively intimidating) but it's all good because it's Saturday and today has been good and full of lots of sleep and waffles**

 **anyway**

 **i hope you liked that! it's a bit of a filler chapter but i can assure you percy and annabeth meet next chapter and it's pretty cool because i mean they just fall for each other (laughs to myself because they most certainly do) immediately and what's better than love-at-first-sight percabeth amirite**

 **also thank you so so so much for all your reviews/favourites/follows! i can't believe we're on fifteen reviews already! you guys are wonderful thank you so much!**

 **please tell me what you thought and i shall see you next Saturday! xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

"She's in the crowd of my show  
Nothing to lose  
She's standing right in the front row"

\- Try Hard, 5 Seconds Of Summer

* * *

Percy, Nico and Thalia are seated somewhere near the front row. Not exactly the front row, because that's for the A-listers like Taylor Swift and Jake Paul (which Percy finds _highly_ debatable because _what's he even famous for_ but he reckons if he opens that can of worms he might get socked in the face by everyone around him so he bites his tongue and sulks in his third row aisle seat), but they're around that general area and luckily Laura Marano and Liza Koshy are sat in the seats directly in front of him and they're both tiny so he can see quite clearly over their heads.

In the end, it's not a terrible seat. Their first TCAs, they were packed somewhere near the back and when they won an award, something no one saw coming, it took them a good five minutes to scurry to the stage because of how far back they were.

Anyway.

The duo hosting the awards is some telenovela couple that Percy doesn't recognise. As they start squawking into their microphones, helloing LA and everyone in the room and "all the peeps at home, including the pets!" ("oh, Tommy! You do crack me up!" "I try, Angelica!") and raving about the sun and about how much pure talent was in this venue at once ("it's _bonkers_!"), he shuffles around in his seat and leans against Nico, trying to subtly fall asleep without the cameras noticing.

Luckily, the cameras don't notice. Unluckily, Thalia does.

She elbows him sharply. "Look alive," she barks.

Percy blinks his eyes open sleepily. "Hm?"

"You're falling asleep."

"That's incredibly observant of you."

"We're at an awards show. You can't sleep!"

"Says who?"

"We already got into enough crap about the whole album thing. If you cause this band any more grief before this month is over we're going to have to put you on a leash."

"That's quite rude."

"Just at least _try_ to look like you're not seconds away from passing out."

"I woke up at four, Thalia. _Four_. That's too early."

Thalia falls silent, and for a few triumphant moments Percy thinks he's won the argument and the conversation is over. That is, until her hand creeps over his knee and pinches it so hard he thinks she draws blood.

(Whatever. It's punk.)

Half an hour into the award show, when the lights go down to reveal a video of a web star receiving her award because she couldn't be there in person, a stage hand gestures to the three of them from across the room. They try and subtly sneak out of their seats – Nico trips over Lilly Singh's leg and almost face-plants directly in her crotch, so Percy doubts their approach is as sneaky as they hoped – but they make it out the arena eventually. Percy thinks he might have stepped on Selena Gomez's foot. He really hopes not.

There are a group of stagehands waiting backstage when they appear. Some of them look thoroughly unbothered, but one girl with purple hair wearing a headset looks like she's suppressing the urge to burst into tears. Must be a fan, Percy reckons. He's seen enough fans to recognise when someone is trying to stay professional.

He makes a note to take her to the side for a picture. She looks cool enough. Also her hair is pretty sick.

"The Demigods?" one asks boredly.

Nico nods. "That's us."

"This way, please."

They're taken into a dressing room off one of the corridors. It's got one other person, some girl in a blue dress in the corner doing her makeup, but Percy ignores her. There are some refreshments on the back, and there's a guitar propped up against the wall. A programme is taped to the wall with duct-tape, printed on a big A3 piece of paper, as if daring anyone to miss it.

Thalia nods a little. "Nice."

One of the stagehands smiles a little. "Do you need anything?"

"I think we're good, thanks."

"Can we eat the food?" Nico asks before Percy can stop him.

The stagehand giggles. "Yes."

Nico nods. "Sweet."

One of the bigger stagehands clears his throat. He's got a neck the size of a tree trunk and arms like corded buses, and just that noise has the girl straightening. "We'll get you in around an hour," he says. "Please don't wander off, and if you do, take a map so we can get you onstage on time. Okay?"

They all nod.

"Good. We'll see you soon."

They all watch as the group of stagehands disappears down the corridor.

"Well," Thalia says. "He was a right ray of sunshine."

"Don't worry," a voice says, and they all whip around to see the girl doing her makeup leaning against the counter with a smile on her face. "He did the same to me. I think it's a complex of sorts."

"I guess," Percy says. "Or maybe he was just fed up of Nico. I was, too, to be fair."

"That's rude," Nico says.

The girl laughs. She's very pretty, Percy notices absently, and also a little familiar. He thinks she's the girl he saw on the carpet earlier. She's wearing the same blue dress and her hair is still in curls but this close up he can see that her eyes are a piercing grey and she's wearing red lipstick.

"Nico?" she says. "You're the Demigods, right?"

Thalia flops down onto one of the sofas. "What's it to you?"

"Thalia!" Percy hisses.

Luckily, the girl takes it in her stride. "Nothing," she says. "Some sort of a fan, I reckon."

Thalia is clearly not expecting that reaction. She's always been a little prickly to new people, and normally when she lashes out they do the same back, but the girl looks completely chill. She arches an eyebrow. "Huh."

"You want a picture?" Percy offers. One of them at least can be nice.

The girl laughs. "Nah, it's okay," she says. "I've got to get going, anyway. It was nice meeting you guys."

"You don't have to lie," Nico says, already knuckle-deep in the chocolate fountain. "We all know Thalia doesn't exactly radiate sunshine and rainbows."

Thalia flips him off.

The girl laughs again. She scoops all her makeup back into her bag and caps her lipstick, shoving it in her bra. "It's totally fine, don't worry." She picks up her bag. "Good luck on your performance," she says genuinely. "You're gonna be great."

She breezes from the room like a butterfly. She smells of daisies and laundry detergent and old books and Percy blinks once as he watches her blue dress disappear from view down the corridor.

"Who _was_ that?" he asks in amazement.

Nico shrugs, his cheeks bulging with crisps. "Dunno," he manages, spraying flecks of spit and salt and vinegar from his mouth. "S'pretty."

"She was all right," Thalia says. "Her eyes were too far apart."

"Thalia!" Percy admonishes. "Stop being mean!"

Thalia sighs. "Well, what do you _expect_ me to say? 'Whoa, in those thirty seconds I talked to her I found her an utter joy to be around!' I barely spoke to her for a minute, Perce."

Percy sulks. "Her eyes were not too far apart."

"They kind of were," Nico says. "But it's okay, because she still looks pretty."

"Whatever."

Thalia stands up from the sofa and heads over to the refreshments table, taking a carrot stick and munching on it thoughtfully. There's a small pause as Nico burrows further and further into the profiterole pyramid and Percy moodily flicks through his phone.

"What time did Mr Smiles And Joy say we were going on?" she asks in between carrot sticks.

"I dunno," Nico says. "Not anytime soon, though. I think in like an hour?"

"Oh, we've got loads of time." Thalia grabs a handful of grapes and then collapses back on the sofa, kicking her feet up on the arm rest and chucking grapes into her mouth. "Perce, grab that guitar, we'll have a quick run through of our set."

Despite himself, Percy snatches the acoustic from where it's leaning against the wall and strums it absently, humming to himself as he tunes it. "What's the order?" he asks.

"We're doing Space, Stars and Empty Jars first, I think," Nico says. "Then Left Behind, then Bianca, and then Clouds."

Thalia pauses. "Nico, are you sure you want to play Bianca?"

"Sure," Nico says. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Um." Percy dodges the obvious elephant in the room and forces a smile. "We've never played it live before?"

Nico rolls his eyes. "You're such babies," he says. "You can say it, you know. I know she's dead. I'm not going to fall into a state of oblivion whenever you mention her name. She would have wanted me to do this, okay? _I_ want me to do this."

Thalia sighs. "Well, if you're sure."

"I am."

Percy finishes tuning his guitar and strums an A-minor. "Cool," he says. "Well, let's go through these songs real quick, and then let's be prepared to knock Los Angeles's socks off."

* * *

Their performance goes incredibly well.

They have the whole arena on their feet at one point, which is pretty cool, and Percy is pretty sure during Bianca Zendaya even sheds a few tears, which is also pretty cool. They don't mess up at all – in fact, as far as instrumentals go, Percy is pretty sure this is musically the best show they've ever performed. They're sharp and in sync with each other, and even though at one point the blue streak Thalia dyed into her hair bleeds onto her face from perspiration and Percy ends up sweating so much his shirt turns black (you would have thought he'd learnt to never ever wear grey shirts during concerts, but here he is) at the end Percy is high off the crowd and his excitement.

When they head backstage, some of the stagehands even clap them on the back and congratulate them on their performance. The purple-haired girl from before shyly tells them she thought they did a great job and Percy is so thrilled that he scoops her into a big hug and then realises that he just covered her in sweat.

"I am so sorry," he says.

"It's fine," she says.

Someone herds them down the corridor to the dressing room from before. The girl isn't there again, but Percy doesn't even have it in himself to be disappointed. Nico strips down to his underwear and screeches out the lyrics to Lightning, the first single they ever released, and Thalia gives him a double high five and crams Percy into a hug as she squeals into his neck how fantastic it was.

"That was so good!" she yells in his ear.

"I know!" he yells back.

They're making a lot of noise. Percy hopes no one comes down to investigate, because the three of them have all stripped down to their underwear and personally the six-pack isn't really looking that great.

Eventually, someone comes in with a new change of clothes for them and says they need to get back into the arena for the song of the summer award. They all quickly get dressed and hurry down the stairs into the auditorium, sliding into their seats just in time to see another band get called onto the stage to accept Best Breakout Artist. They won that award once. That was when they were seated right at the back and had to climb over a bunch of D-listers to reach the front.

Percy smiles faintly. Ah, good memories.

A musician takes the stage to sing her latest hit but Percy is barely paying attention. Their category is next and while he knows he won't be _gutted_ if they don't win it, per say (their mandatory tour therapist says that self-deprecation won't get them anywhere, except it's very handy when accepting awards because when you don't win you've already hyped yourself up – down? – enough so you don't feel so bad), he will feel sort of disappointed with himself because they worked hard on this song and to lose an award to someone else on it means it wasn't good enough. And he thinks that might be the hardest part.

The song ends and there's a roar of applause. Percy almost forgets to clap until Nico kicks him in the leg.

And that's when the award comes.

To Percy's pleasant surprise, one of the people presenting the award is the girl in the dressing room with the blue dress. She's standing with another girl Percy doesn't recognise, with brown skin and dark hair, standing in a pink dress, and together up on the stage they look _beautiful_ together. Under the heavy spotlights the girl's blue dress shimmers violet and her hair appears white.

She looks gorgeous. Percy's mind kind of strings into spaghetti at the sight of her.

They play the video of all the contenders for the award – Percy cringes when their video comes along, because the seven seconds they chose of it happened to be the same seven seconds where Thalia has the main frame and you can see him leaping around in the background like a madman – and then the two girls are being handed an envelope.

"This is it," Nico whispers. "I think I'm going to vomit."

"Don't actually," Thalia says. "That's gross."

The brunette giggles into the microphone. "And the award for song of the summer goes to..." She pauses as she tears open the envelope and holds it in front of her face so she and the blonde can read it out together. " _Nightlight by The Demigods_!"

Everything around him explodes.

Nico pulls him to his feet and crushes him in a hug. He thinks he might have heard him whisper, "I just vomited in my mouth," but he's so high off the thrill of it he doesn't really think he cares anymore. Thalia reaches over and pulls him into a headlock and he yells excitedly into her stomach. Nico flings his arms around them, and then because he has no one left to hug he turns around and grabs a random man they've never seen before and hugs him too.

Someone next to them shoves them gently, shouting, "Go onstage!" so they do, giggling like school kids. Nico trips on the way up and Thalia is positively vibrating, dancing across the stage and pulling the brunette into a hug. She laughs and hugs her back and Percy is so happy he doesn't even roll his eyes when Nico yells excitedly into the microphone.

Then the blonde girl hugs Nico, and then she turns to him.

Percy sees it happen in slow motion.

The girl steps forward to give him a congratulatory hug, but just as she does her ankle twists in her heel and she topples backwards.

Percy moves, but it's too late. She hits the ground, butt-first, and sits there for a few moments, disorientated, like she's completely forgotten what just happened. The whole arena hushes, and for three beats the entire room is silent.

And then the girl starts to laugh.

The ice breaks, and everyone laughs with her. Thalia reaches forward and grabs her hand, hauling her to her feet, and the girl staggers a little, slightly off-balance. She puts her foot down, and she's good enough to hide it from the cameras and the audience but Percy is right next to her and he sees the slight wince of pain she lets out when she puts her weight on it. Jason was on the football team growing up, so Percy knows injuries when he sees one – and he reckons she sprained her ankle completely. But she doesn't look like she's going to be getting out of those dreaded heels anytime soon, so when, still laughing, she turns to finally give him his hug, he uses all the muscle he's built up from carrying an electric guitar around for a couple hours almost every day and grips her tightly, lifting her a centimetre or so off the ground. It's not enough so he's carrying her but it gives her ankle a break, and he feels her sigh with relief into his neck and mumble a small, "Thank you."

He doesn't properly let her go when she pulls back. Instead, he tightens his hold on her waist and nods at her friend, the brunette in the pink dress, to come over and help, subtly jutting his chin towards her ankle. Thank God, the friend gets it, and throws her arm casually around the girl's hips, gripping her against her side so she doesn't fall over. Percy doesn't know why he feels so protective over this girl already – he doesn't even know who she is – but she just tripped and sprained her ankle on live TV and to the hog with any articles making up their nonexistent love affair afterwards. He just hopes she's all right.

He knows the focus is off them, anyway. All the cameras at the moment are on Thalia and Nico, who are standing at the podium with their surfboard.

"Um," Thalia says. "Uh, thank you all so much for this award, whoa. Um. Wow."

"You're so eloquent," Nico comments.

"I'd like to see try do any better," Thalia fires back, but there's no heat in it, and she's laughing and smiling and giggling awkwardly. That's one thing they've never gotten used to – winning awards. Percy doesn't think they ever will. It's one thing to eat yoghurt because you got an A on a physics paper, and it's most certainly another to eat yoghurt because you won _song of the summer_.

It's– crazy.

"I will," Nico says. He pats the surfboard. "Um, thank you so much to everyone who voted for us, it's– um– it's pretty cool, um. To all the fans, you're incredible, we love you lots. Thanks to Olympian Records for helping us produce this song? Thanks to – uh." Nico awkwardly turns to the two girls standing by the side. The blonde is still latched onto her friend, her foot limp on the ground. "You guys, for giving us our award, I guess?"

That makes everyone laugh, including the girls.

Nico turns to Percy. "You got anything, man?"

"Um, sure." Percy steps up to the microphone, and just as he leans in the room echoes with the squeal of microphone feedback. He winces and sees a couple of people in the front row clap their hands over their ears. "Oh, whoops, sorry. Um. Well. Nico kind of said it all. Thanks for voting, thanks for liking our music, that's pretty rad. We love you guys, you mean everything to us. Uh. Thanks to our parents for giving birth to us."

Thalia sighs in frustration.

"Thanks for being cool," Percy finishes. "And thanks TCAs for giving us a snazzy surfboard, that's also pretty rad. We love you guys!"

They step away from the podium and give one final wave. The audience claps and as the three of them stagger down the steps with their massive surfboard the two girls move forward to the microphone. The blonde nearly topples over again but the brunette keeps a firm grip around her waist. Percy can't help but sneak a look back at them, watching as a security guard off the side of the stage gives the blonde a questioning look, _like do you need help_ , and then the blonde resolutely shaking her head.

However, things go pear-shaped quite quickly. Not for the girls. For Percy. Because unfortunately, now that his attention is on the girls, he's not quite looking where he's going.

That night, it's not just the blonde who takes an impressive tumble on live TV.

* * *

 **A/N disclaimer: i honestly have no idea how the tcas/any other award show goes so if i got anything rather hideously wrong im terribly sorry im basing everyone off all the 'reviewing tcas fashion' videos i've watched**

 **anyway! i hope you enjoyed that my friends! i actually quite like this chapter which is cool and we also properly met annabeth! yay! this took far to long because writer's block sucks but here we are at last hurrah**

 **also at school i won an award for creative writing woo**

 **anyway! i love you all so much and thank you all for all your wonderful reviews i love you all and i shall see you next saturday! bye xx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"I was scared of dentists and the dark  
I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations"

– Riptide, Vance Joy

* * *

"Twelve thousand retweets," Nico says mildly. "Not bad."

"And the headlines aren't even that awful," Thalia adds over her shoulder. She turns around and leans against the counter, dusting her floury hands down her jeans. "I think I've only seen eleven that involved some variation of the pun 'falling in love'."

Percy sighs a little. "Well, fantastic."

"You fell pretty gracefully, if I'm being honest," Nico says. "There are nine different videos circling Twitter from four different angles and in all of them you still manage to look remarkably chiseled."

"Right, because that's what I'm worried about."

"Don't be such a Grinch, Percy," Thalia says, turning back to the bowl. She starts pouring milk into a measuring jug. "You look great and you got over two thousand 'get well soon' messages, you'll live." She picks up her phone and switches it on, taking a long hard look at the screen, and then glancing back at the bowl. "Four eggs?"

"They're in the fridge," Nico says.

"I know _that_. It just seems like a lot, doesn't it?"

"That's what it takes."

Thalia throws open the fridge and takes the carton out. "I still don't know why you asked me to make cookies."

"I'm injured," Percy says. "Until I get out of my crutches you have to do everything for me. Which includes making me cookies."

"He's got a point," Nico says.

"I suppose." Moodily, Thalia starts cracking the eggs in the bowl. "Still. I'm not happy about it."

"Trust me," Percy says. "I can tell."

Thalia swats at him with a teatowel. "If you aren't going to do anything useful then go away, I don't need your negativity in my kitchen. I'm the one baking for you, bear in mind, you need to be nice to me."

"I'm the one who's injured."

"Yes, well, that was your fault. Now, shoo, go."

Percy hauls himself to his feet. The fall last night had been pretty nasty (there are a deceivingly large amount of stairs to get down from a stage and Percy had tripped right from the top) but thank God the damage to his ankle wasn't severe. He'd be on crutches for the next week, which was irritating, but he'd be up and about in "no time", according to their tour doctor. Nico passes him his crutches from where he's sat on top of the island, licking at an ice-lolly he had found in the freezer, and Percy grabs them and uncomfortably staggers to the living room.

He's broken his ankle before, back when he was sixteen, but he's still not used to having crutches. This is promptly proven two steps into the living room when he moves to take a step forward and lurches face-forward into the couch almost immediately.

Nico bursts into raucous laughter. Still lying down, Percy wrestles his arm free of his crutch and gives him a half-hearted middle finger.

"Nice one," Thalia says, out of sight.

They fall silent after a few more moments of giggling, when Nico takes out his phone and starts showing Thalia various memes, and Percy takes the opportunity to wriggle himself so he's lying on the sofa comfortably and pulls his own phone out of his pocket. He's steered clear of Twitter since the accident, so he supposes it's better now than ever to check the damage.

Surprisingly, it's not as bad as he thought. Which isn't really saying much because Percy had been preparing for World War Three.

 **nicosunderwear** : did u see percys epic fall loll

 **smileymikey** : i suppose you can say percy and annabeth 'fell' in love BWAHAHAHA

 **thedemigoofs** : get u a guy who helps you up the same way percy jackson helped annabeth chase up after she fell

 **icecreamthalia** : ngl percy's fall last night was p impressive

 **pineappleannabeth** : two faves: *trip on the same stage within three minutes of each other* me: OmGgG ReLatIonsHiPP GOalS

Percy smiles at a few, even liking and retweeting a few. One thing that does puzzle him a little is the name that keeps popping up alongside his – _Annabeth_. He reckons it was the pretty blonde girl who tripped going in for the hug, and is just about to open a new tab to look her up when he comes across an article someone had tweeted about the very incident that confirmed his suspicions.

* * *

 **'** **FALLING IN LOVE' – the hilarious incident at the TCAs**

 _Last night Los Angeles hosted the ever-popular Teen Choice Awards, and it was certainly an eventful night. With artists such as Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and webstars like Liza Koshy and Tyler Oakley taking home their trophy surfboards and excellent musicians such as The Demigods performing a string of catchy pop-punk singles from their latest album, including a powerfully heartbreaking ballad said to be about drummer di'Angelo's deceased sister, there was lots to talk about._

 _However, the unspoken highlight of the night came in the form of aforementioned band The Demigods accepting their award for their song, Nightlight. The lovely webstars presenting the award came in the form of Annabeth Chase and Piper McLean (known respectively on YouTube as_ _ **codenamewisegirl**_ _and_ _ **piperpiper**_ _) but when Chase went to give lead guitarist Percy Jackson his award she slipped and tripped – right on live TV! We do hope she's okay, because it didn't look like a pleasant fall in the slightest, but the laughter came properly when only minutes later when The Demigods were heading down the stairs to get off the stage and Jackson had his own tumble. Many fans had a field day about this, seeing as after Chase's fall Jackson had been noticed to be extremely helpful towards her, helping her upwards and keeping an arm around her waist. Is there something happening between these two stars, or is it all just speculation? Either way, we can certainly say one thing – they did 'fall' in love!_

* * *

Percy looks at the picture at the top. It's of the moment where he had his arm tightly around her waist, looking to the side (presumably at Piper, Percy thinks, but the photo cut off before you could see). The girl – Annabeth, Percy reminds – is still smiling prettily at the crowd and has her head thrown back in laughter but her hand is on his shoulder and the little bruises he had woken up with this morning tells him she was in a lot more pain than she was letting on.

He tilts his head a little to the side. Huh.

He can kind of see where the media was coming from. They do look pretty couply, if he does say so himself.

(Also the picture is rather adorable. Percy considers sending it to his mom to remind her how good and gentlemanly her son is.)

Out of curiosity, he clicks on the picture for good measure and zooms in. They don't look half bad together. He tries to ignore himself, because he's always found it a little weird to see pictures of himself as a 'celebrity', so instead he zooms even further into the girl's face. She's got beautiful grey eyes. Her mouth is painted red and she's got a girlish, pretty kind of softness to her face. She doesn't really have visible cheekbones, because her cheeks are a little chubby, but she's laughing in the picture and she has dimples and that makes up for everything. She's– really, really pretty, Percy realises.

Well. Time to stalk her.

Percy has always been quite open about his stalking abilities. Sometimes he'll scroll through a fan's Instagram and when he sees a post that he likes that's also three years old he'll confidently hit that like button because _where's the shame what's to be ashamed about_.

However.

This is a very pretty girl. A very, very pretty girl.

He's going to have to be sneaky about this.

He types her name into YouTube and her channel immediately comes up. Percy isn't sure what he was expecting – he must have known somewhere in the back of his head that she was successful, otherwise she wouldn't have been invited to the TCAs – but it definitely _eight million_ subscribers under her belt. No wonder the press went wild. She's one of the top dogs of YouTube, and their band isn't half small, either.

Goodness. Percy tries to control his shock as he clicks on her channel.

She's made hundreds of videos. Most of them appear to be quite friendly, just her sitting down and talking about things, and most of them have millions of views. One of her latest, the thumbnail in which she's sitting holding a cat up to her face, already has just over a million views and it's barely been up two days.

It's called "Meet My New Baby" and out of genuine curiosity Percy clicks on it.

The screen fills with her face. She looks so different to the girl in the picture, the girl he met yesterday in the dressing room, but at the same time she doesn't, because she's still got a dimple in her cheek when she smiles and when she laughs she still sounds the same. She's not wearing any visible makeup, she's just sitting in a Harry Potter sweater and a pair of jeans, with a pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose. She's got freckles, too, something he didn't notice last night, and now that she's not surrounded by flashing lights and the roar of the crowd her eyes are glittering a grey so intense they look blue.

"Hey guys!" she chirps. "So, if any of you follow me on Twitter, you all know this already, because I think I've tweeted about this eighteen times, but for those who don't, look what happened!" She disappears out of frame and reappears moments later, with a kitten cradled carefully to her chest. "I got a new baby!"

Percy stares at her in horror. _She's_ _adorable_ _what the_ _hell_.

"He's called Bradley," Annabeth says. The kitten scrambles in her hands and licks at her cheek and Annabeth's face positively lights up. "I got him a few days ago. Isn't he beautiful?" She holds the kitten up. "Yes, you are, aren't you?" The video jump cuts and now the kitten is perched precariously on her shoulder, pawing at her curls. Annabeth's hands are clasped around his body so he doesn't fall off. "He's the light of my life and I adore him with all my soul. Ron also loves him – Socks doesn't, but I'm not even sure Socks likes me so that's all okay."

Percy watches in awe as the video cuts to a clip of two animals loitering by the door. One of them is an excitable little white puppy with a tuft of red fur on its head and the other is a slightly surly-looking cat – it takes one glance at her sweater to know which one is Ron.

The rest of the video is just various clips of all the animals cuddling together and several extreme close-ups of the surly cat's permanent scowl, with Annabeth laughing in the background. Percy watches it all in awe, and as soon as it ends he watches another. She's so cute he thinks he might die, and on top of that she looks like the sweetest person ever. There's quite a few videos of her and the brunette from last night – Piper, Percy remembers – and Percy watches all of them.

He thinks he's in love.

A few minutes into his eighth video, Nico comes into the living room, wearing a hideous apron with a picture of a man's abs on the front. Percy's head is so addled from Annabeth and also how disgusting Nico's apron is that he just kind of sits there and stares helplessly at Nico's face.

"Cookies are ready," he says cheerfully. "Like my apron?"

"It's revolting."

"Thalia told me the same thing. Need any help up?"

Percy leaves his phone on the sofa and reaches out his hands so Nico can pull him to his feet. He gathers his crutches and hobbles to the kitchen, Nico trailing behind him, following the scent of freshly baked cookies. When he arrives, he sees Thalia on her phone, her hip against the side of the counter, and a plate of chocolate-chip cookies in the middle of it. Licking his lips, he reaches for one, and Thalia immediately smacks his hand away.

"Hey!"

"Those took a long time," Thalia threatens. "You better wash your hands and sit down before you even think about eating one."

Percy rolls his eyes but he does what he's told. "Why did they take so long, anyway?" he asks, as he's drying his hands. "I can make this same recipe in about ten minutes."

"Thalia forgot to add the butter the first time," Nico says. "Strangely, she didn't notice until they were out the oven. Despite the fact that the dough was not sticking together and tasted revolting."

"Dough isn't meant to taste nice," Thalia says, slightly snappishly. "How was I meant to know that your preference in cookie dough meant I forgot an ingredient?"

"Dough _is_ meant to taste nice," Nico tells her, reaching for a cookie. "It's why there's an ice cream flavour of it."

Darkly, Thalia grumbles. "I bet it's not even real cookie dough," she mutters.

Percy takes a cookie and bites into it. It tastes excellent – not as good as his cookies, of course, but then again no one's is – and his eyes practically roll to the back of his head in bliss. "This is so good," he moans. "I'm in heaven."

Thalia straightens a little. "Well," she says modestly. "You're welcome."

"I helped," Nico says, around his own cookie.

"You did nothing except be a nuisance."

"Hey, I poured the sugar in!"

"And ate half the chocolate chips."

"I was making sure they weren't out of date."

"You ate, like, _thirty_."

"I was just double checking."

Thalia shakes her head, and then turns to Percy, taking a cookie for herself. "So, have a nice nap?"

"Nap?"

"In the living room? You were remarkably quiet."

"Oh!" Percy laughs a little. "No, I wasn't napping. I was watching YouTube."

"Was it one of those Vine compilation videos?" Nico asks. "Honestly, I logged in to your Google account and almost every single one of your recommended videos were just Vine compilations."

"No, actually," Percy says. "You know the girl from last night?"

"The one who fell?"

"Yeah. I read an article about us – how we both fell and stuff – so I checked her out."

Thalia finishes her cookie and reaches for another one. "YouTuber?"

"Yeah. Eight million subscribers, too, which is pretty fantastic. She's really cool, I like her."

"Shame we didn't get to talk to her properly yesterday."

Nico snorts.

"What?"

"We did," he says. "You just scared her off before we could all become friends."

Thalia scowls. "Shut up. I was just being careful."

"Against what? Being used for five minutes of fame? Please. She's doing just fine for herself. If anything it'd be the other way around."

"He's not wrong," Percy says.

"Do shut up, Percy."

(Thalia doesn't like to be wrong. It's a superiority thing.)

They sit in silence for a bit. Percy swings his feet as he sits on his chair, thoughtfully chewing his cookie. For some reason, Nico insisted on getting tall chairs for their kitchen. They look nice but they're highly inconvenient, because it takes a great deal of navigating to get their thighs under the table and also they're a little tricky to get on top of. When he's sitting on it, Percy's feet don't touch the ground.

"You should DM her," Nico says.

"Hm?"

"DM her. The girl."

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, whatever her name is."

Percy pauses. "Wait, really?"

"Sure, why not?"

"What would I even say?"

"Preferably something witty," Thalia says. "I've often been complimented on my rapier sense of humour so I can give you several pointers."

"You can compare injuries," Nico suggests.

"Did she get hurt too?"

"Appears so. I read an article. Apparently she tweeted something about how she damaged her ankle in some way and how it was 'a pain in the butt or should I say ankle haha' or whatever."

What a nerd.

"Here, where's your phone?" Nico asks. "We can compose this together."

Thalia sighs. "It's a DM, not a letter to the Queen."

"Stop being negative, Thalia."

"It's on the sofa," Percy says.

Gracelessly, Nico slides off his chair. "Think of conversation starters while I'm gone."

He disappears into the living room. Thalia drops her head into her hands in despair.

"You are hopeless," she says to the tabletop.

"Thanks," Percy says. "Did you know she has a cat called Socks?"

Nico reappears in the doorway, with Percy's phone clasped in his phone. "I'm back and bearing goods. Are we all ready to make a new friend?"

"No," Thalia says.

"That's the spirit," Nico tells her cheerfully. He clambers back on his stool and shoves another cookie in his mouth, sliding Percy's phone across the table. "Okay, Perce. First thing's first. Do you follow her?"

"I think so," Percy says. "Oh, I do."

"I thought last night was the first time you'd ever seen her," Thalia says, unimpressed.

"It was. She must have followed me first so I followed her back. I don't know."

"That makes sense," Nico says sensibly. "She said she was a fan, didn't she?"

"Yeah, I think so." Percy clicks the little message button by her name. "Okay, I'm on the DM thing. What should I say?"

"I don't know, Percy," Thalia says. "How about 'hello'?"

"That's too formal."

"Well, I certainly hope you're not planning on the first thing you ever say to her being 'sup bachacho', because that would go down terribly."

"Don't be ridiculous," Nico says. "Just say something nice. Like, hey, you looked pretty cool last night. Or say I hope you feel better after your fall last night because I sure don't."

"You could swap bandaged ankles," Thalia says sarcastically.

Percy pauses. "That's– not a terrible idea."

"I was _kidding_."

"I'm not," Percy says. "Let me just take a picture first. Nico, get out the shot." He angles the phone downwards and takes a photo of the bandages wrapped around his foot. He's put a fuzzy woollen sock on top because his feet were getting cold and somewhere in the back of his mind he realises that the first message he's going to send to one of the prettiest girls he's ever seen involves narwhals in tutus but he decides not to care and sends the picture.

Or rather. He _tries_ to.

And instead clicks the picture before it, one of the ugliest selfies he thinks he's ever taken of himself, and before he can panic and delete it he's accidentally pressed send.

He lets out a screech of alarm. " _Crap_!"

"Did you now just realise how creepy your idea is?" Thalia asks.

"I sent the wrong picture!"

"Relax," Nico says. "It can't be that bad."

Trembling, Percy holds up his phone.

Two beats pass.

And then Nico and Thalia burst out laughing.

Percy sighs crossly as they heave with giggles. The one moment they need to be serious.

"Guys!" he says, in a sort of whine. "Come on!"

"Sorry, sorry," Nico wheezes, wiping his eyes. "Just– that's a really unfortunate picture."

"What do I do?"

"Apologise, first of all," Thalia says. "That's not a picture many people want to be cursed with viewing. Also beg her not to spread it otherwise our career is over."

Percy frowns, slightly hurt. "It's not that bad."

"It's worse."

"Don't worry," Nico says. "Just– say that was not the right photo."

Suddenly, Percy's phone buzzes.

Nico squawks. " _Is that her_?"

Percy checks his phone. "Oh God."

"It _is_!"

Thalia chokes with laughter. "What did she say?"

 **Annabeth** um

 **Annabeth** well hello to you too i guess?

Percy hides his face in his hands. "This is so embarrassing! She's seen the photo!"

"Well, you need to respond now," Thalia says. "You can't just leave her hanging, especially with something like that."

"What do I say?"

"Say it's not the right picture," Nico says. "Right now that's your only goal."

 **Percy** that was not the right picture

"I did it," Percy says. "What now?"

Thalia sighs. "Dear Lord, you are hopeless."

"You wait for her to respond," Nico says. He steals another cookie and then slides off his stool. "I'll leave you to it. Try not to humiliate yourself any more."

Percy clasps his phone anxiously. He's so scared he doesn't know what to do.

"Well, at least move yourself to the sofa," Thalia says. "You're as stiff as a board. Also I need to clean up."

Stiffly, Percy picks up his crutches and heads towards the living room. "I'm very nervous."

"It's just a girl."

"I know."

"I'm a girl. You text me lots. Just imagine it's me."

Percy creases his face. "No, gross."

Thalia swats him with a dishtowel. "Get your smart arse into that living room before I whip it."

Percy wobbles through the doorway. Nico is nowhere to be seen – he's probably disappeared into his bedroom. Good. Privacy. That way when Percy inevitably messes up the only person to know about it will be him and Annabeth.

He collapses on the sofa and stares at his phone.

 **Annabeth** i figured

 **Annabeth** maybe wrong person too?

 **Percy** no don't worry i meant to send it to you

 **Percy** i mean

 **Percy** not that picture

 **Percy** but the picture i meant to send i was meant to send to you

 **Annabeth** it wasn't a nude was it

 **Percy** please im classy

 **Percy** it was actually of my foot

 **Annabeth** ...classy?

 **Percy** no i mean

 **Percy** because we both fell over yesterday

 **Percy** you know

 **Percy** i sprained my ankle

 **Percy** i was hoping we could bond over our injuries

 **Annabeth** oh!

 **Annabeth** oh well of course lets see this picture

 **Percy** [picture12]

 **Annabeth** nice socks

 **Percy** thanks i got them at walmart

 **Annabeth** your ankle is pretty impressive too

 **Annabeth** how are you by the way? still a bit sore?

 **Percy** just a teeny bit

 **Annabeth** that was quite the fall you took

 **Percy** i could say the same to you

 **Annabeth** why thank you

 **Annabeth** no but seriously i mean

 **Annabeth** you fell down stairs

 **Annabeth** that's not fun at all

 **Percy** no not really

 **Percy** surprisingly im not that banged up though

 **Percy** just a few bruises and my ankle

 **Percy** apparently i could have fallen on my neck and died right there on live tv

 **Annabeth** that would have been tragic

 **Percy** think of the views though

 **Annabeth** you're not wrong

 **Annabeth** well you've shown me yours heres mine

 **Annabeth** [picture28]

 **Percy** wait did you BREAK your ankle?

 **Annabeth** ya

 **Percy** how on earth did you do that

 **Percy** you literally fell backwards

 **Annabeth** i don't know

 **Annabeth** the doctor said it was actually my shoes and not so much the fall itself

 **Annabeth** when i fell my ankle turned in my shoe and because they were so high it just went snap

 **Percy** ouch

 **Annabeth** i agree

Percy smiles a little.

He thinks they're going to be good friends.

* * *

 **A/N 'friends' pshh pls percy**

 **anyway hey guys! how are you today i hope you're well because i'm doing really well which is cool**

 **i hope you enjoyed that! i really liked writing this (because percabeth and also because i spent about half an hour researching cute animals trying to decide which breeds would be best suited for annabeth's cats/dog so without further ado here they are**

 **ron is a west highland terrier (i did my research lads)**

 **socks is a grown-up munchkin cat (can u imagine a permanently grumpy munchkin cat Oh mY gOD)**

 **and Bradley is a lil black kitten so he'll outgrow the other two when hes older but hes the youngest (socks is the oldest, then ron, then Bradley) (bradleys a baby atm))**

 **anyway**

 **sorry for the slightly awful youtube channel names i was very dry on inspiration haha but i suppose that's what it's gonna be for the story**

 **and thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews! i love them so much they mean the world to me xxx love you guys!**

 **please tell me what you thought and i'll see you all next week! x**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"I might never be your hero  
But I think I'd like to try  
And the way you look at me is your reply"

\- Someone You Like, The Girl And The Dreamcatcher

* * *

Percy is out buying a coffee when his phone vibrates in his pocket.

 **Annabeth:** are you in la at the moment?

Percy stares at the message for several seconds too long before responding.

 **Percy:** are u asking me on a date

 **Annabeth:** caught me

 **Annabeth:** no but really are you?

 **Percy:** yeah why

 **Annabeth:** okay thank goodness

 **Annabeth:** look i know this is really awful crappy timing and you can totally say no if you want to but is there any chance you'd be up for petsitting for me

 **Annabeth:** im going to connecticut for around three days for some small youtube thing (it's a surprise for a fan with cancer we're celebrating her birthday) and i don't know what to do with the animals

 **Annabeth:** i know it's so late and im so sorry and i know we don't know each other that well and i know youre meant to be on your break and im really sorry that im asking you to do this but ive asked everyone and they're all busy

 **Annabeth:** normally i get piper or hazel to do it but piper's coming with me and hazel is in Canada with her boyfriend

 **Annabeth:** im really super sorry you honestly don't have to do it if you don't want to

Now. Look.

Percy would gladly chop off his arm for Annabeth. She's got a pretty face and bouncy curls and owns every Friends box set Percy thinks they've ever released and that's fricking _adorable_. She's very sweet and lovely and has great music taste and honestly why _wouldn't_ Percy want to spend a couple days chilling at her place looking after her pets?

Well. Maybe because excluding this newest conversation they've only ever spoken once.

Percy hadn't talked to Annabeth since their first DM exchange where they swapped injured ankles and teenage broken bone horror stories. Or rather, _Annabeth_ hadn't talked to _Percy_. He supposes it could have also been interpreted the other way around because it's not like he sent her messages that she ignored (he's been too frightened to even read over the text conversation again because what if she can tell she'll think he's creepy and weird) except he really, really wanted to talk to her again, and he wasn't quite sure the feeling's reciprocated. She hadn't said anything, not even a vague tweet with a subtext that could possibly be something about how much Percy sucks, but he's pretty sure if she wanted to talk to him again she would have done so already, right?

But now she is talking to him again. Asking if he can petsit.

What does one do in this situation?

"Sir?" the barista asks. Percy looks up. "Your order?"

Oh, right. Coffee. He had forgotten about that. He pockets his phone.

"Um, I'll have just a regular," he says. "With four sugars."

The barista doesn't say anything but by the eyebrow raise at 'four sugars' Percy knows he's being judged hardcore. Coffee tastes awful without sugar, alright. He wants his soul to be replenished, not to shrivel up and die.

"Name?"

"Percy," Percy says without thinking, and then remembers that _crap_ , he's meant to be incognito so he doesn't get mobbed, and instantly blabs, "I mean Tom, not Percy, sorry, slip of the tongue."

The barista looks amused. "It's all right, rockstar."

"You know who I am?"

She smiles a little sheepishly and moves her apron to the side, revealing the logo of the band stitched onto the left side of the breast. "Bit of a fan."

"Aw, sweet. Want a picture?"

"You're Tom, remember?"

And– that's so considerate Percy might cry. "You have a Twitter?"

"I'm at-martinico."

Percy smiles a little. "Nico your favourite?"

The girl blushes. "Kind of."

"Tragic. Nico sucks."

That gets a laugh out of her.

Percy pulls his phone back out of his pocket and presses the home button. The Twitter app is still open at his and Annabeth's chat, and for a second he forgets the girl at the counter and his coffee and stares down at it because oh right what the hell is he going to say?

He must look terrified because the girl asks drily, "You all right?"

Percy comes out of his reverie with a start and immediately exists Annabeth's chat. "Yeah, I'm great," he says. "Just– contemplating existential questions and whatnot."

"As you do."

He laughs and searches up the girl's Twitter. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Lauren."

"Lauren, Lauren." He finds her profile ("is– your profile picture Nico's butt from that livestream we did last year?" "I was, um, hoping you wouldn't see that") and then clicks follow. "Well, thanks for being chill, Lauren. It was nice to meet you."

"You too." She hands him his coffee. "One eighty."

He hands over a few coins and she puts them into the till. "Have a nice day, Tom," she says with a smile.

"You too, Lauren."

With his coffee in one hand and his phone in the other, he exits the shop, slouching deep into his hoodie so he'll remain unrecognizable. He stares down at his phone long and hard.

Another notification pops up.

 **Annabeth:** oh no did i scare you off im sorry forget i said anything

Oh what the hell.

 **Percy:** no don't worry just went to get coffee

 **Percy:** and as for your question earlier, i'd love to

* * *

He arrives home to an– interesting scene, in the least.

He's just about to call out to Thalia and Nico that he's returned from his mighty expedition, or something as equally witty along those lines, until he walks into the kitchen and sees them first. They're stood around the oven, with the door open but not switched on, and Thalia is holding a wooden spoon and Nico a baking tray. A recording microphone is balanced on a stack of books that comes up to Nico's waist, and they've both got headphones on, sporadically banging their various objects against the open oven door at random intervals.

He's not quite sure what he's seeing.

"Um?" he says intelligently.

Thalia meets his eye and shakes her head. No talking. Okay then.

He pads over to the fridge and takes out a yoghurt pot, and then hauls himself onto the counter with his free hand. He sits there slowly eating his yoghurt, and watches as his batso bandmates bang various kitchen utensils against the oven door. All to their own, his mom used to say. Carpe diem, and all that jazz.

After a little while, Nico lets out a little yip and takes his headphones off. "Perfect!" he says.

"What exactly was that?" Percy asks.

Nico turns around. "Oh, you're back! I didn't even see you come in."

"That may have been because you were too busy slamming a tray against our oven."

"It's all for the music," Nico tells him seriously. "You know that song me and Thalia wrote a while back? About aeroplanes and sighing days and bad champagne and blah?"

"What about it?"

"Well, we reckoned that the bridge would sound really cool if we had some background ting-ting-tings, or something, but we weren't sure how to play it without explicitly making it sound like a triangle or xylophone or piano or whatever, so we left it. Then, around an hour ago, we were putting some samosas in the oven and I accidentally hit the tray against the side and we were like 'yo, that sounds really cool!'"

"So you've spent an entire hour banging trays against the oven?"

"Quite right," Nico says. He hands Percy his headphones and takes the yoghurt straight out of his hands, spoon and all, and shoves it in his own mouth. "Play it for him, Thals."

Diligently, Percy puts the headphones over his ear and Thalia hits play. Admittedly, it actually sounds pretty cool, and if it hadn't been for him walking in on them he would have never guessed it was a bunch of metal trays hitting an oven door. He hears his own vocals over the top, some warbly lines about heartache he had recorded about a month ago, and then a high-pitched harmony above it that he doesn't recognise ("we recorded that bit in the bathroom," Thalia tells him later proudly, like the idea of his bandmates recording various parts of their album in different places in the house should fill him with joy, "it's got great acoustics"). Altogether, it's not awful, which is impressive considering.

"Not bad," Percy says, when it's finished.

Nico positively beams. "Right? I emailed it to Apollo" – he's their producer – "and he suggested that when we go in the studio tomorrow we should do a little guitar riff over the top. Sounds good?"

Percy starts to nod – before he remembers. "Oh, wait, I can't make tomorrow."

Thalia quirks an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"You can't either, actually."

Even Nico stops now. "I'm sorry?"

"Annabeth asked me if I could petsit."

"And you agreed _why_?" Thalia demands.

"Because he's up her arse," Nico mutters under his breath.

"Because she was _desperate_ ," Percy corrects. "And because I don't actually know how to sit a pet I'm bringing you with me."

"That's not something you unanimously decide without us."

"Tough. Besides, you had a dog, Thalia, you know how to look after them."

"You mean Cerberus?" Thalia asks, unimpressed. "The one who bit our secretary's finger off?"

"Yeah."

"I swear you and Annabeth aren't even friends," Nico says. "How many times have you talked? Like, twice?"

 _Yes_. "No," Percy says stubbornly. "We've talked lots of times. And it's not as if we're going to have to, like, move state or anything. She lives in LA. I put her address into Google Maps – it's like a twenty minute drive from here."

Thalia _hmphs_. She's still irritated.

"You don't even have her phone number, bro," Nico rebukes.

"I do, actually."

"Oh yeah, and when did you get it? Like, an hour ago?"

Pathetically, Percy flounders a little on the spot, because he's kind of right, but _whatever, okay_. "That's not the _point_ ," he says firmly.

"What _is_ the point, Percy?" Thalia asks. "That we have to go stay at a stranger's house for three days looking after her pets even though we don't know her? She probably knew you have some creepy crush on her and used it to your advantage."

Percy juts out his chin. "You want to say that to her face?"

"Well, of course not. She seems okay and she's a genius for using you like that."

Percy is– _not_ expecting that answer, except it's Thalia, so maybe he kind of is. Whatever. He puffs out his chest. "Well, tough. You can anyway."

"What, you're going to call her and say, 'hey, my cousin wants to tell you something'? Right, that's guaranteed to get her to fall in love with you."

"We're going to her house, actually."

"That's even worse."

"Not uninvited, you moron. She's leaving tomorrow and we need to arrive an hour or so before she has to go to the airport so she can give us a tour of her house and tell us what we need to do. If you don't want to come along, fine, you don't have to. But I made a deal and she's counting on me, so I'm going to go."

There's a small silence.

Then Nico sighs. "Fine, I'll go."

Percy turns to Thalia. "Thals?"

"I hate you, you know."

That's a yes.

"Oh, thank you so much, oh my God." He leaps off the counter and rushes to her, ready to scoop her up in a hug. She cringes away but when it comes to Thalia's extreme reluctance for human touch he has an incredible habit of conveniently not recognising the signs, and so he swings her off her feet and spins her around like she's his bride.

"Hey, I accepted first!" Nico cries indignantly. "I want to be swept off my feet, too!"

Percy ignores him and presses kisses all over Thalia's face. She squawks in alarm and immediately kicks her arms and legs out like a starfish. "No, no, no, stop it stop it!"

" _Thank you Thalia_ ," Percy sings.

"Yeah, yeah." Thalia squirms out of his arms and scrubs the back of her hand across her face, like she's trying to get rid of his kisses. Which she never will. He's more than happy to spread the love by kissing her face lots. "Don't do _that_ again and I'll do just about anything."

"Good to know," Percy says. "So, who's ready to sit on some pets?"

"That's not the correct terminology," Thalia says, but she's drowned out by Nico's loud cheer.

* * *

Percy is so anxious he's not quite sure he's able to breathe.

They're in the elevator up to Annabeth's apartment. The doorman gave them a bit of a funny look when they walked in, which Percy supposes is sort of reasonable, because with their dark jumpers with the hoods pulled up and black jeans they do look a little like they're out to commit a crime, but it's better then him recognising them as The Demigods. Unless he calls the police. In which case Percy will rip his hoodie off and start singing their most popular song to date. He's already been to prison once this year. His mom can't afford to have another heart attack scare like that again.

"This is very weird," Nico says.

Thalia rolls her eyes. "We're meeting a girl we've only ever met in person once for two minutes to guarantee that we're staying in her house for three days, what's weird about it?"

"Your sarcasm is not necessary," Percy says tightly.

Thalia's face pinches a little, and she leans in. "Are you okay?"

"I think he's nervous," Nico says. "You know. He's meeting his celebrity crush and all."

"She's not my celebrity crush."

"I'll remember that when you're rendered speechless when she tries to talk to you."

Percy decides to ignore him. If he doesn't want to make a fool of himself in front of Annabeth everything must be good vibes. Which means Nico's negative energy needs to move the _hell_ away.

The elevator pings as they reach her floor and the doors slide open. Thalia leads the way, clearly the least bothered about the situation out. Percy hangs around the back, still extremely worried. What if Annabeth hates him? What if his breath smells? What if Annabeth didn't actually want him to come over today? What if she sent that message to the wrong person?

"I can hear you fretting from over here," Thalia says over her shoulder.

"I'm not fretting."

"Yes you are. Stop it, or it will give you grey hair."

Percy scowls half-heartedly at her back.

They reach Annabeth's door and Thalia leans forward and rings the doorbell. Percy feels sick.

Only moments later, the door swings open, and _omigod it's Annabeth_. She's standing in a pair of leggings and a large grey sweater that falls off one shoulder, and she's got one shoe on. Her appearance is a little rumpled and frantic, like before the doorbell rang she had been doing six things, and Percy's theory is further proven when he sees she's holding a straightener in one hand, and half her hair has been ironed and the other is still curly and wild like a mane around her head.

Despite her appearance, she beams at them. "Oh, hey!" she says, and Percy wants to cry because her voice is even nicer than on camera. "Come in, sorry I'm a mess, I've been trying to cram like three hours of housework and getting-ready-preparation into thirty minutes, and it's kind of going well?" She steps backwards and allows them to come in. She watches them as they look around, and start sliding off their shoes, and then puts another strip of curls in between the tongs.

"I like your place," Thalia says. "Must make a lot making videos."

It's a rude remark but Annabeth laughs. "You could say that, I suppose," she says. "It is a little weird, though, whenever I have relatives come over. They're like, 'oh wow, you must be quite well off, what do you do' and I say 'I make videos' and because they're all stringy old bats they think by videos I mean– well, you know, _adult_ videos. Not that the videos I do make are any better, I just talk about my cats and how much I love Harry Potter." She finishes straightening her hair and puts the straightener down on her couch, grabbing a brush and running it through her hair. "Sorry, I'm rambling, it's an awful habit. I haven't even introduced myself, I'm so sorry." She chucks the hairbrush onto the couch next to the straightener, and then holds out her hand. "I'm Annabeth, it's nice to meet you guys properly."

Even Thalia melts a little. She can only stay ice cold for a while. Percy knows awkward rambly people are her weakness. "I'm Thalia," she says. "These nugget-heads are Nico and Percy."

"I am _not_ a nugget-head," Nico mutters.

Annabeth grins at them a little bashfully. "It's great to talk to you for real," she says. "Last time we were too busy falling, I think."

Percy tries not to stare at her face too hard. "How's your ankle, by the way?" he asks. His throat still feels closed-up and tight but he just formulated a sentence without choking or throwing up, so he considers that a success.

Annabeth glances down at her moonboot, like she had forgotten she was even wearing it. "I mean," she says. "Still broken, I guess. It doesn't hurt terribly anymore, though, which is also good."

Nico snorts.

Annabeth beams at him, and then looks at all of them properly. "Well, uh," she says. "Best show you the animals now, right?" She turns around and calls, "Ronnie, baby, come here!"

There's the skittering of claws against the floorboards and suddenly a tiny puppy dog comes sliding around the corner. A slightly bigger kitten – Bradley, Percy remembers – comes charging in only moments later, hot on its tail, and then, like it owns the place, the tiniest animal yet, a sulky-looking cat with the permanent frown, skulks into the room. Percy knows it's an animal but he's pretty sure it's glaring at him.

Annabeth catches him looking. "That's Socks," she explains, crouching down she rub the dog between the ears. "Don't take it personally, he hates everyone."

"Duly noted," Percy says.

"What are their names?" Thalia asks. Nico is crouched by her feet, tentatively stroking the cat. It starts purring almost immediately, winding around his ankle and rubbing its head against his knee.

"This one is Ron," Annabeth says, giving the dog a kiss. "He's a sweetheart, likes cuddles and bubbles. He might try to come and snuggle you in the night but if you don't want him on your bed just push him off, he'll get it eventually. The cat Nico's petting is Bradley, he's my newest, and he's my baby, aren't you?" The last part is directed at the cat, who simply mewls in response. "See, he's great. He's great for talking to. He's also extremely snuggly for a cat, and he likes watching movies, so if you ever put something on he'll come and join you." She points to the grouchy cat by the door. "That sourpuss is Socks, he's irritable and old and he hates everyone, but he's quite lovely and if you wrestle him into a hug he'll only fight for a bit. He might nip a bit, but you've just got to feed him lots and lots of treats and he'll respect you, which is practically a proposal in Socks-language."

Percy watches as Thalia and Nico nod, taking it all in. He tries to look like this is all new information, even though he already knew most of it anyway from watching every single pet video Annabeth has on her channel. He doesn't think this is going to be too bad.

"Any dietary requirements?" Nico inquires politely.

Thalia snorts. "Nico, they're animals, not children."

"Ron is actually really sensitive to dairy," Annabeth says, and Percy almost laughs at Thalia's face. "He'll try and get it but you've got to wrestle him off, he's not allowed it."

"Well." Thalia looks thoroughly uncomfortable. "I stand corrected."

Annabeth laughs. "Don't worry about it, everyone says the same. And he's not even meant to be allergic, he's just a silly snowflake, aren't you, my love?" She scoops him up and the puppy excitedly yips and licks her face. "Anyway, yeah, that's everything. Their food is kept in the cupboard under the stovetop and they need to be fed twice a day. You'll know which one's which, Ron's has got a giant dog on it and Bradley and Socks's doesn't. Percy, you have my number, right? Text me if you need anything or if anything goes wrong."

Percy nods. "Will do."

Annabeth gives him a smile, just him, and Percy feels his entire chest erupt in flames.

Nico and Thalia end up pottering off to the living room, apparently trying to find the place with the best acoustics to do some more recording (at Annabeth's confused look, Percy explains, "We take our job as a band a little too seriously"), and Percy is left to dither awkwardly by the front door with Annabeth shoving any last-minute utensils in her bag. He leans against the chest of drawers propped against the wall, and then blinks a little when he feels a furry little head bump against his hand. It's Bradley, who somehow managed to jump up. He gives him a few pats.

(Socks, meanwhile, nips once at his ankles and then darts off when Annabeth gives him a half-hearted glare and a " _no_ , Socks, this is a guest, stop it".)

Annabeth pulls her hair into a ponytail and then grabs the handle again. "Thank you so much again," she says in a lower voice. It feels more intimate now that it's just the two of them. "I just – thanks for doing this so last minute, I'm so sorry that I asked."

"No, no, don't worry at all," Percy reassures her. "I would have agreed if I wasn't chill."

Annabeth nods. "Yeah, I guess." She smiles fondly at Bradley, who's rubbing himself against Percy's ribs. "And at least one of my cats seems to like you."

"I'll get around Socks," Percy promises.

"I doubt it. Even I haven't gotten around Socks."

"Well, breaking boundaries and all that jazz, right?"

Annabeth laughs a little. "Well. Thanks again. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

Something pings in the back of Percy's head. He looks into her earnest face, at her sparkly grey eyes and her sleek blonde hair that isn't so sleek because of the curls at the bottom she missed with her straightener, and then the rubber band stretches and snaps and suddenly he just doesn't care any more. _Carpe diem, and all that jazz_ , after all.

"Maybe you can," he says.

Annabeth arches an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Maybe you can take me up on that date," he says. He's pretty impressed by how even he's kept his voice. "When you get back. We can go for coffee."

For a few heart-stopping moments, Percy thinks Annabeth is going to reject him. And then somehow, miraculously, a shy kind of smile stretches across her face. "I'd like that," she says.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Percy has to bite his lip to stop the smile from engulfing his face. "Cool."

"Yeah." Annabeth is smiling wide, and his heart hurts.

"Have fun in Connecticut," he says.

"I'll try," she says. "Send me lots of pictures, okay?"

"I will."

And then she's gone. Percy stays staring at the closed door until Bradley bumps his head into his arm again.

"I know, pal," he says. "Trust me, I know."

* * *

 **A/N theyre going on a date how WONDERFUL wooOo *confetti***

 **anyway! hello my pals how are we all are we good? i'm very very good because i actually very much like this chapter and i hope you did too! i'm getting very involved with this story and you all may be thinking "wait this is moving fast" to which i can say "i guess?" and "yes but there is a** ** _reason_** **which you will all find out soon enough mwahaha"**

 **(let's just say there's a plot twist up ahead wait what who said that)**

 **also quick story the lead pastors of my church sent me a package today (im not quite sure why but they did) and it was one of these briefcase things packed with makeup and um well im very terrible with makeup so now i have like twelve sets of eyeshadow and FOUR different eyeliner pencils and all these funky makeup tools and no one to use them woe**

 **anyway**

 **thank you all so much for 46 reviews already! that's just crazy i love you guys all so so much thank youuuuu all for being so wonderful (allineedisabook you beautiful being you always make me smile and miss impossible love you girl)**

 **i hope you liked that and please tell me what you thought! i'll see you all next Saturday my beans i love you! xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"I want to get to know you  
Sugar, you, I wish that I could hold you"

\- Sugar You, Oh Honey

* * *

"Hey, Percy!" Annabeth says happily. The reception where she is is apparently crap so her face keeps glitching and the footage is a little grainy but even across the terrible Skype line her smile still makes Percy's heart backflip. "How's things?"

"Terrible!" Nico yells from the kitchen. "Ron pooped in the hallway!"

Percy groans and Annabeth bursts into laughter.

"That happened literally yesterday," Percy tells her. "He's still hung up on it."

"Of course I am!" Nico comes in and snatches the laptop off Percy's lap, pointing his finger at the little camera at the top. "I had to pick it up with my _bare hands_ , Chase, my _bare hands_ – "

"–we gave you _gloves_ , for heaven's sake–"

"–and that is not something I can ever recover from!" Nico barks. "Ever!" He points accusingly across the room to where Ron is laying, undisturbed, on the sofa. "Do you hear me, you little creep? Next time you want to poop don't put it on me!"

Ron lets out a little snore and rolls onto his back.

Annabeth is laughing so hard she can't speak. Percy snatches the laptop back.

"Nico, get out of here," he says.

"No! I need Annabeth to understand the _trauma_ I have been through–"

"Annabeth doesn't care. Buzz off, please."

Nico scowls and sulkily starts to head out the room. As he disappears around the corner, he yells, "Percy has a big gross crush on you!"

Thankfully, Annabeth finds this more hilarious than creepy, and keeps on laughing. Percy nervously laughs along with her, silently vowing to stab Nico through the leg with a set of scissors tonight. Like, he's not wrong, per say – in fact, he's actually pretty spot-on – but Annabeth doesn't have to know that.

"So I take it everything is great," Annabeth says, still giggling a little.

"It really is," Percy says. He strokes Bradley, who's curled up on the sofa next to him. "The animals kind of like me, too, which is sick."

Annabeth smirks. "Even Socks?"

"I mean." Percy looks over the top of his laptop. Socks is resting next to Ron on the sofa across the room, but unlike Ron he's wide-awake and scowling at Percy, unblinking. "I'm working on him."

Annabeth laughs. "Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll probably need it." Percy gently scratches Bradley's head, and he purrs, pushing his head into Percy's hands. "Hey, you want to say hello to Brad?"

Annabeth gasps. "Yes, _please_!"

Percy tilts the laptop screen down so the camera is on Bradley. Annabeth positively weeps when she sees him, and she lets out a big squawk. Percy can't see her face properly from this angle but he smiles anyway because she's just too _much_. "Bradley, baby!" she cooes. "Hey!"

Bradley sleepily blinks open his yellow eyes. Percy isn't expecting anything incredible – it's a cat, for goodness sake, who so far has done nothing but slide around the house chasing Socks or sleep on Percy's various body parts – but he's a little surprised when his gaze lands on Annabeth and then he lets out a loud meow, pushing himself up and rubbing his head against the screen.

Annabeth laughs wetly. "Oh my goodness I'm going to cry," she says. She clicks her tongue against her teeth so Bradley looks up at her, and says, "hey, baby, how are you?"

Bradley meows.

"Has Percy been taking good care of you?"

There's a completive silence as Bradley looks at Percy, and then he meows.

Percy's eyes widen. This– is a little creepy.

Annabeth beams. "That's great!"

"Do you want to see the others?"

"Yes, please!"

Percy has to stand up so he can move across the room to where her other animals are, and Bradley lets out a discontented mewl as he shifts him off his lap. Percy is just about to turn around to apologise, but then Bradley finds a pillow and falls right back asleep on it (which, like, rude), so Percy shrugs and keeps moving. He squats in front of the sofa with Ron and Socks on it and says, "here they are."

Annabeth claps excitedly. "My children!"

"You love them a lot."

"I'm their mama, of course I do." Annabeth leans forward a little and coos. "Hey, babies."

Socks turns his head to face her. He stares at her for a few moments before he stands up, stretches all the way up, and then leaps off the sofa and patters out the room.

Annabeth is undeterred. "Love you too, whatever. Perce, babe, would you mind just waking Ron up for me?"

For the first time, Percy is so glad that he's positioned himself behind the laptop. He's almost certain the pet-name slipped from Annabeth's mouth accidentally – he's watched an embarrassing amount of her videos with Piper, he knows 'babe' is something they affectionately call each other all the time – but it doesn't stop him from flushing scarlet. To him, 'babe' is not a friendly nickname. That's, like. A _dating_ thing.

And Annabeth called him it.

It's almost too much to process.

"Percy?" Annabeth prompts gently.

"Oh, right, sorry." Percy reaches over the laptop screen and scrubs Ron between the ears. Ron blinks himself awake, his tail beginning to wag, and then as soon as he sees Annabeth on the screen he leaps up and lets out a bark, his tail moving like lightning. He scrambles onto the laptop, his feet on all of the keys, and starts frantically licking at the screen.

Annabeth laughs. "Hey, boy!"

Percy is slightly nervous. "Um, Ron, please get off my laptop."

Neither Ron nor Annabeth hear him, both too busy invested in their reunion to particularly care. It would be cute and heartwarming if Percy's keyboard wasn't in the process of getting all its keys clawed out by an overexcited puppy.

"Uh, Ron?"

Finally, Annabeth seems to hear his pleas, and between giggles says, "Okay, baby, off the keyboard, there we are." Unbelievably, Ron listens to her, and scurries backwards back onto the sofa, his tail wagging furiously and his tongue hanging out his mouth. Percy closes his eyes and prays he hasn't slobbered all over the screen.

"Have you been a good boy, Ron?" Annabeth asks. Ron barks. "That's what I thought! Give Percy lots of snuggles for me, okay, baby?"

Enthusiastically, Ron yips.

"Good _boy_!" Annabeth coos. "Okay, baby, let me talk to Percy now."

Percy takes that as his cue to turn the laptop so it's now facing him. He falls backwards onto the sofa and immediately Ron tucks himself under his arm and stares happily at Annabeth, panting, and Annabeth laughs.

"They're like your kids," Percy remarks.

"You don't say. I'm terrible. Wait until I actually have kids one day, I'll be dreadful." She pulls a kissy face at Ron. "Isn't that right, Ronnie?"

Ron barks.

"See, he thinks so, too." Annabeth looks at Percy and the look in her eyes is just so _soft_ that Percy thinks he falls headfirst in love. Just from the way she treats her animals he knows one day she'll make a great mom. "I know I've said this eight hundred times, but thank you again so much for looking after them at such short notice."

Percy waves her off. "It's no problem, honestly," he says. "I get to chill in a house with some cool animals and I made a new friend, so where's the downside?"

"Oh, did you finally talk to Mrs Huddleston from next door?"

"No, you goon, I mean _you_. You're my new friend."

"Oh." Annabeth's cheeks dust red. "Oh, yeah."

"The second I saw you trip I was like, awesome, I want to be friends with her. And then you ask me to hang around at your place for a couple of days and I was like, sweet, this friendship has been cemented in stone. You can't get rid of me now."

"I was just embarrassed," Annabeth says. "I had heard some of your stuff before and when I saw you guys come up I was like, I need to be cool, and then. That."

"I fell too, remember."

"How could I forget?"

"But my ankle's all better. Yours is still broken."

"Yes, well. These things happen." Annabeth laughs a little. "Either way, it brought us together, so I suspect worse things have happened."

"Yeah," Percy agrees. "That would have made asking you out super awkward."

That surprises another proper laugh from Annabeth and whoops, there goes Percy's heart again. "I had almost forgotten. Do you know where you're taking me?"

"Well, there's a café down the road," Percy says. "I've heard it does pretty awesome pancakes."

"I love pancakes," Annabeth says.

 _I love you,_ Percy wants to say, before he realises how creepy that is. "Me too," is what he says instead. "Just hurry back quick and we'll be on our way."

Annabeth laughs. "One more day. And then I'll be reunited with my babies."

"And me," Percy says.

Annabeth smiles fondly at him. "And you."

* * *

 **Percy:** [picture25]

 **Annabeth:** no way

 **Percy:** ya ha

 **Annabeth:** h o w

 **Percy:** im magic

 **Percy:** also ice cream

 **Percy** : socks is a big ice cream fan

* * *

Annabeth arrives in the middle of The Goblet Of Fire.

They've got all their bags packed and ready by the door, but because they're all closeted Harry Potter nerds they decided to pass the time they would just put on a few movies (because of course Annabeth owns all of them. Percy honestly expected nothing less). "Just one movie" turned into six and Harry's name has just come out the Goblet when Percy hears the door click open and a few muffled curse words as a loud thump resonates through the flat.

Nico pauses the movie and leans his head against the back of the sofa, trying to look upside down at the intruder. "Hey, Annabeth!"

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth materialises in the door with a suitcase and a massive beam on her face. She looks extremely pretty, even though she's wearing the rattiest jeans Percy has ever seen and her hair looks like she's walked through a cyclone, but Percy only a few moments to awe at her beauty because she takes one step forward and goes tumbling.

Thalia bursts into laughter. It's not a bad fall – it's only a foot downwards, and Annabeth is wearing flat shoes – but she still sits on the ground and scowls.

"Every time," she mutters. "This is getting a little ridiculous."

Percy laughs and scrambles up from the sofa, going to help her up. She puts her hands in his and he hauls her to her feet, and as he does he tries to ignore the softness of her hands and how close their faces suddenly are now that she's standing upwards.

It ends soon. She steps away and turns to smile at Thalia and Nico.

"Hey," she says. "Sorry about, um. That."

"No problem," Thalia says. "Nothing we haven't seen before."

"Fair enough," Annabeth says. "How were the pets?"

"Awful," Nico says. "I had to pick up Ron's poop."

Thalia groans and drops her head backwards. "Oh my God, Nico, I _swear_ –"

"They were good," Percy interrupts. "Excellent, even."

Nico scowls from where he's sat on the sofa. "Easy for you to say."

"One more time, di'Angelo," Thalia threatens. "I dare you."

Annabeth laughs. "Don't worry, I know how grueling dog poop can be. Truly traumatic."

Nico misses the sarcasm completely. "I agree."

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Oh my God," she mutters, pushing herself to her feet. "Sorry about him, his brain is the size of a string bean. We'll be out of your hair soon."

"Oh, you don't have to go now if you don't want," Annabeth offers. "Do you want a cup of tea? Or Percy and I were going to get pancakes, if you'd like to tag along."

Percy's nostrils flare where Annabeth can't see him. He turns to Thalia and sees she's already looking at him questionably, her eyebrow slightly arched. He pulls a desperate look that he hopes somehow conveys _please say no I meant it in a date way I don't want you to come_.

But because his life is so perfect it seems to have the opposite effect instead, and a smirk stretches across Thalia's face. "I'd _love_ to come," she says. "That's ever so wonderful of you to invite me."

Annabeth flushes a little pink, like she always does under compliments (Percy may have watched too many videos, okay, we don't need to dwell on this). "It's okay," she says. She turns to Percy. "That's okay, right?"

Thalia smirks over the top of Annabeth's head. Oh, she knows. " _Yeah_ , Percy," she says. "I wouldn't mean to _intrude_."

Percy sighs. "No, I don't mind at all."

"Cool!" Annabeth beams. "Nico, do you want to come?"

"I might skip out on this one, actually," he says. "I needed to get back to the studio, anyway, Mr D has been badgering me to record the drums to Oceans for ages now."

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent."

"Okay, then." Annabeth nods, quite pleased with herself. "Well, I'll just pack my stuff away real quick and say hello to the animals, and I'll meet you there."

* * *

"It was meant to be a date, you know," Percy says sulkily.

"Well, clearly you didn't make that clear enough," Thalia tells him. She takes a sip of her smoothie. "I've always known your wooing skills were nonexistent but I didn't know that they were that bad that the time you try to ask a girl out she thinks you mean as a friend."

"I thought I was pretty clear."

"Yes, well, you also thought stealing an album was legal, so sue me for not trusting your judgment at the moment."

Percy scowls at his pancakes. Trust Thalia to sabotage his date, honestly.

They're sitting in a diner at _Pat's_ , as desperately incognito as they could get. Percy is wearing a beanie and a pair of sunglasses and Thalia has tied her hair back and is wearing a hoodie so big she's practically swimming in it. She had to roll the sleeves up about four times until her fingers appeared; Percy is frankly a little concerned where she got something so big.

("I killed a man," Thalia says. "That's how."

"Shockingly, I don't believe you."

"When you wake up and I'm knuckle-deep in your vitals don't say I didn't warn you.")

Percy has been here a handful of times. When you're a teenage boy with money living in LA of course you're going to visit all your local junk food cafés. In fact, he's pretty sure the owner knows who he is, as in Percy Jackson and not a weird hipster who conveniently to have his face covered every time he came, because of the one time a teenage girl had apparently gotten a little too curious and the owner had crammed him in the store-room until he had convinced the girl that _no_ , the boy she just saw was _not_ Percy Jackson. It's a nice place to be and it's also pretty private. The only people who go are broke college students who are too busy mourning their debts or failing theses to care or pretentious hipsters with the coloured jeans and notebooks filled with poetry who are too 'alternative' to know a mainstream band.

It's a pretty nice place. It would have been better if Thalia hadn't been there and it was just Percy waiting for Annabeth so their date could commence, you know, but you win some you lose some. Whatever. Next time he asks her on a date he'll make it smooth enough to make sure Thalia is way out of the equation.

Thalia looks up and her face brightens. "Oh, look, here she comes," she says. "Smile, or she'll never go out with you."

Percy sticks his tongue out at her. He considers the pros and cons of throwing his apple juice over her head.

Annabeth approaches their table with a smile. She's gotten changed – she's wearing a soft flowery dress now, and her hair has been pulled back in a ponytail (it's still a rat's nest, but pulled out of her face you can't really tell). She's wearing a big sweatshirt over it, however, to presumably stop herself from being noticed, but it just makes her look extra cuddly and _shut up Percy_.

"Hey!" she says, taking a seat. "Have you ordered yet?"

"Yep," Thalia says. "We bought you some waffles."

"Thank you so much," Annabeth says. "Waffles are my favourite."

Thalia gives Percy a knowing look. Percy shrugs and hides behind his straw.

Thalia and Annabeth end up hitting it off really well. Almost unexpectedly so. It's not that Percy thought they would despise each other, because Annabeth is too sweet to despise anyone and Thalia would at least attempt to make somewhat of an effort, but Percy is not expecting them to get along this well. They even end up _sharing a drink_. Like. With two straws and everything.

Percy is more jealous than he'd like to let on. He wants to share a drink with Annabeth.

"It was crazy," Thalia says. "We wanted to sneak out casually, you know? We've done it all before. It's not as if we were wearing fluorescent pajamas either, so I'm, like, convinced TMZ have night-vision goggles."

"Did they just find you?" Annabeth asks, wide-eyed.

Percy takes it from there. Thalia looks a little peeved that Percy overtook her but instead of putting up a fuss she just shrugs and sips her drink. "Yeah," he says. "And it was even worse because they saw us coming _out_ of Taco Bell, too, so we had these giant tacos in our hands and Nico's face was covered in avocado and none of us looked great, you know, Thalia had awful bed hair and Nico had food all over his face and I had put toothpaste on all my spots like the beauty gurus tell you to do, and then suddenly bam, out of nowhere, this manic camera crew materialises and they're like 'Percy! Tell us about the new album! Percy, you're so hot! Thalia, have you ever had any sexual thoughts about your cousins?'"

Annabeth stares at her, horrified. "They did _not_ ask that."

Thalia nods gravely. "They did. It was such a vile question I nearly vomited all over their poncey cameras."

"But – that's so gross! You're their cousin!"

"Do you think they give two figs?" Thalia asks. "The amount of times I've been asked if any of Percy's sexy photoshoots made me feel sexually frustrated is beyond maddening."

Annabeth sits back and frowns. "That's horrendous."

"I mean, some of those photos were rather sexy," Percy says.

"Yes, but I'm not going to get sexually frustrated over them," Thalia says, sipping her drink. "I've seen your dingdong enough times and even from a non-biased non-relative point of view I can still firmly say it's the oddest thing I've ever seen."

That– is _not_ a turn Percy is expecting the conversation to take. He chokes on his apple juice.

"Oh my God," he rasps.

"What?" Thalia asks innocently. "It's true. Say what it is, but, like. They're not nice to look at."

"Thalia, oh my god, shut up."

Thalia smirks. "Aw, are you getting embarrassed?"

"Yeah, a little, but what do you expect when you're discussing my _genitalia_ in a _public area_?"

Thalia laughs. "I'll stop. But it does frustrate me beyond anything whenever they ask me something like that."

"I can imagine," Annabeth says. "I'm kind of glad none of my relatives are in the public eye now."

"You've got Piper," Percy points out.

"That's different, I think. Because we're not related, and if by some miracle we did end up getting together it wouldn't be weird. But, like." Annabeth scrunches up her nose. "You know what, how about we end this conversation here?"

"Great idea," Thalia says. "Any votes on new topics?"

"I have one," Percy says. "Annabeth, favourite Harry Potter character?"

Annabeth's eyes brighten. "Oh, okay, Luna, definitely. I just think she's so fascinating and she's also one of the first people to treat Harry like– well, Harry, you know, because even Ron was a bit wonderstruck..."

She keeps rambling on about Luna Lovegood and why she's the series' best character ever, and over the table Thalia gives Percy a fond eye roll. Percy knows what it means. It's further proven by the text he receives only moments later.

 **Thalia** : youre so in love its so gross

 **Thalia** : next time u go on a date count me out u two are disgusting

Percy smiles a little. It's a nice feeling.

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **i hope you enjoyed that! im a little iffy on this one but i think i just need to reread it and calm down because its not that terrible so anyway yeah i hope you guys like it :DDD**

 **(also thank you guys for 60 REVIEWS THATS SO COOL AHHHH)**

 **okay also amigos i have big news**

 **so basically there was this big competition in the uk called the Write Stuff Challenge and it's a national writing competition and i entered and gUESS WHO WAS A RUNNER UP YA GIRL AKA ME HOW COOL IS THAT OMG**

 **I LIKE CAME JOINT SECOND WITH ANOTHER GIRL ISN'T THAT AMAZING**

 **anyway sorry im just very excited (ive known for a few weeks but i couldn't tell you guys because i wasn't allowed to post about it on social media until the winners had been officially announced so yeah that's pretty swag)**

 **but back on topic i hope you guys liked that! if you did please tell me what you thought and i shall see you all next saturday! x**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"You should think about the consequence  
Of your magnetic field being a little too strong"

\- Gorgeous, Taylor Swift

* * *

Percy gets interrupted. Again.

"Come on, Thalia," he complains. "That was a good one!"

"Sorry, sorry," Thalia says. "These articles– sorry, they just crack me up."

"Don't read them if they're going to make you laugh," Percy says. "You keep interrupting me."

"They're about you, too."

"Well, I'm about to karate chop you into pieces if you interrupt me again," he says, sniffing a little because if Thalia's going to insist on being a little brat he's going to very well treat her like one. "We need to get this chorus down, we're performing it live in, like. Four hours."

"Exactly," Nico says, coming into the room with mugs of tea. "Sit down. Breathe. Find your inner peace. Have some tea."

Percy glares half-heartedly at Thalia and then takes his guitar off. They've been practicing their set over the morning, because their last performance in Nevada had been shoddy at best, but it seems Percy is the only one actually doing anything. Thalia had abandoned her bass long ago and is now sitting on an amp scrolling through Twitter (and news articles about him, apparently) and Nico had been god-knows-where until he came in with mugs of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"Guys, we need to rehearse," Percy whines a little.

"Take a break," Thalia says. "We've been going at this for hours."

" _I've_ been going at this for hours, you mean. You're just on your phone."

"Yes, but can you help it?" Thalia leans forward and picks up her tea mug, taking a sip of it. She lifts her chin to indicate Percy should come over, and grudgingly Percy does because admittedly he's a little curious. "I mean, look at these _headlines_."

Percy reads one aloud. "Is YouTuber codenamewisegirl in a polyamorous relationship with Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace of The Demigods?"

Nico chokes on his tea.

"You're welcome, in any case," Thalia says breezily. "If I hadn't turned up there would have been way more articles about how the two of you were on a date."

Percy frowns a little. "But– if you hadn't turned up we _would_ have been on a date."

She shrugs and goes back onto Twitter. Percy sees she's on the tag _percyjackson_ and secretly he smiles a little. She's a brat but she has his best intentions in heart. Only last year someone had tried to write an article slandering him and she had tweeted it out with just an emoji and by the next day the writer had been fired. "Well," she says. "It hardly matters now. Besides, if it was you would have had to check with Dionysus first."

Nico pauses. "Wait, what?"

"He's our manager."

"That doesn't mean he manages our relationships."

"Actually, it does," Thalia says. "Unlike you idiots I read the small print. He has almost complete ownership over us. Everything we do has to be controlled and run though him first. That's why he got so peeved over the whole 'stealing-an-album' scam. If we want to perform a publicity stunt he has to be in charge."

"But it wasn't a publicity stunt," Nico says. "It was just Percy being dumb."

"Hey!"

"Trust me, he doesn't care about that," Thalia tells them. "As long as he makes money off it it's all he cares about. If it had been a controlled publicity thing he would have shaken it up so we would have made a crap-ton of cash off it."

Percy frowns. "I just thought he was mad that we got arrested."

"I mean, partly. He's only mad because generally getting arrested isn't good for one's reputation. Honestly, do you two ever read?"

Slightly insulted, Percy says, "Of course we do. Just not the small print. Who reads the small print?"

"Well, me, when we're signing off our lives to a complete stranger with an alcohol problem," Thalia says. "Gosh, you're both lucky you have me. You probably couldn't find your way out of a one-way street by yourselves."

She doesn't mean it. Some of the darkest, most hauntingly beautiful lyrics were written by Percy and Nico. They all have their strengths. Percy and Nico's just don't lie in reading the small print.

(Again _, who the hell reads the small print_?)

"So technically, I did do you a favour," Thalia says to Percy. "If Mr D knew you were having an unsolicited relationship with someone he would have braided your intestines."

"But that's stupid," Percy says. "He can't control my relationships."

"He kind of can."

"Relax," Nico assures him. "It's not as if Annabeth actually likes you back."

And Thalia _cries_.

"That's not nice," Percy says, as Thalia wheezes with laughter in the background. "And I'd actually beg to differ."

"You do that," Nico says. "Trust me, mate, the friend zone is a nasty place to be in."

"I'm not in the friend-zone! I asked her on a date and she said yes."

"And then she offered for Thalia to come along as well, that's quite a friend-zoney thing to do."

Percy scowls a little because he has nothing else to do. After pathetically floundering for a few moments, he picks his guitar back up and crossly strums a B flat. "Yeah, well," he says viciously, "your feet smell."

Nico smirks and sips his tea.

"Come on," Percy grumbles. "We need to rehearse."

Thalia is still laughing so hard that she can't even pick up her bass.

* * *

They're back on tour and Percy is _living_.

They'd taken around a month off just to sleep (and work on more songs in the studio, too, something Mr D had conveniently forgotten to mention until he had woken them at eight am on the first crash day with a phone call) but now they're back to performing almost every night and Percy is so excited.

Tour has always been a funny thing. Percy loves it, loves the idea of travelling and seeing new places and meeting so many fans and performing his songs to a crowd who screams them back to him, but also it can be so _exhausting_. He's working his fingers until they bleed every day on the same guitar to the point where at the end of the European leg of their tour his old electric guitar's fretboard had literally been crusted with blood. Which is gross, but you get it.

In any case, he's excited. Up until last night, their first show in Nevada, he hasn't been on a stage for a month, and he already misses it. He's glad they're back to touring.

And of course, he and Annabeth text every day.

Despite his big gross crush on her, he's found that she's a really solid friend. After every concert he comes back to his phone with a series of bad jokes, blurry close-ups of Socks' permanent scowl and various forms of the phrase "good luck!". The next day is generally worse, because that's when all the fan pictures from the night before have come out, and as Percy has discovered he tends to pull a lot of curious faces when he's going particularly hard, and by now Annabeth must have a whole folder with the amount of awful photos of him she's sent.

 **Annabeth:** [picture72]

 **Percy:** hes frowning because he misses me

 **Annabeth:** youre a liar by the way

 **Percy:** how

 **Annabeth:** i tried ice cream

 **Percy:** don't worry annabeth its all right that ur cat prefers me to you

 **Annabeth:** i will not tolerate this

 **Annabeth:** socks is my baby how does he like you better than he likes me

 **Percy:** maybe he does love you

 **Percy:** but he's a bit like Thalia so he shows it in different ways

 **Annabeth:** im telling thalia you said that

 **Percy:** go ahead she cant kill me we're on in ten

 **Annabeth:** bad why are you texting me then

 **Percy:** because youre my friend

 **Percy:** also i need the ego boost

 **Annabeth:** um excuse you

 **Annabeth:** fine then i'll just take my cat and we'll leave

 **Percy:** no come back

 **Annabeth:** you just betrayed my love ill need more than this

 **Percy:** im sorry

 **Annabeth:** wow real convincing

"Percy!"

Percy looks up. Thalia is standing in front of him, her eyeliner thickened to perfection and her black outfit on, as per usual. "Come, we're on in a few minutes. You got your guitar?"

"It's here. Hang on a second."

Thalia rolls her eyes but she's smiling a little. "Bid your wife goodbye and get your arse up, Jackson."

"Yeah, yeah, just a minute."

 **Percy:** i need to go

 **Annabeth:** good luck out there rockstar you'll be great 33

 **Annabeth:** see socks thinks so too

 **Annabeth:** [picture73]

 **Percy:** thanks beth

 **Annabeth:** u still owe me an apology by the way

"Percy! Put your phone down!"

 **Percy:** check twitter after the concert

 **Annabeth:** what does that mean

 **Annabeth:** percy

 **Annabeth:** percY

"Coming," Percy calls, switching his phone off. He stands up and meets Thalia and Nico by the side of the stage. "Let's blow their socks off."

The concert is electric.

Percy feels it in every inch of his bones and he explodes on stage. He was right to nag the others to rehearse – this show goes _so_ much better than the one in Nevada (sorry Nevada) and in the moment where the lights are down and it's just the fans yelling out the lyrics he remembers why he loves performing. Thalia bounces all over the stage with her bass, her black hair flying across her face, somehow still not even breaking a sweat, and Nico, the only immobile member, is standing up at every opportunity he gets and yelling.

It's so much fun. Percy feels it in the thrum of the baseline, the whine of his guitar, and he only falls deeper in love with what he's doing.

However, the real fun comes during their talking break in between songs. They're setting up for the next song, Percy experimentally strumming a few chords on his guitar, and he leans into the microphone. "So," he says. "This next song."

"This next song," Thalia echoes.

"This next song," Nico agrees.

He flips them off and the crowd roars. "This next song," he says, "is a pretty awesome song. You might know it. Hopefully you do, anyway, because it'll be really awkward if you don't."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

"But," he says, "I want to actually dedicate this song to someone tonight. You know who you are. You're a cow and you overreacted but you're also pretty cool so this is Apologise!"

The crowd screams as Percy plucks the opening. He catches sight of Thalia standing on one of the amps and she raises a questioning eyebrow, but he just smirks at her and launches into the verse. It's one of his favourite songs to play live, and also one of their oldest, and as the verse carries into the chorus and Thalia's bass sends the stage shuddering beneath his feet he throws his head back and laughs because God, he's so in love with his job.

The rest of the concert is just as beautiful. All of them are high off each other, high off the crowds and the screams and the deafening screech of instrument feedback too close and too loud to their ears to be good for them but it's all good because when they take their final bows at the end and the crowd screams the loudest it has all night it's so worth it.

They bounce backstage, suddenly so high off adrenaline that Percy thinks he could probably bring down the building. Which wouldn't be good, because it would kill a bunch of people, but whatever. He's so sweaty his shirt is practically plastered to him and when he reaches the dressing room and peels it off with much difficulty it lands with a wet smack on the ground. Thalia pulls a face but that's only because she's still as dry as a bone ( _she doesn't sweat_ it's so unfair and she's the one wearing _all black plus a jacket_ onstage). Nico isn't bothered. He's already naked and standing in front of the fan.

The usual.

"Rocking show, lads," Percy says, giving Thalia a weak high-five and collapsing on the sofa. He's going to have to peel himself off it later but the cool leather against his skin is too good to pass up. "S'good."

"It was more than good!" Nico turns around. No one even bats an eyelid at his very visible junk now just– there. "It as phenomenal! That was the best show we've ever played!"

"You say that every time," Percy says.

"Well, it's true!"

"Also, Perce," Thalia butts in. "What was that up there?"

"What was that?"

"That thing with Apologise."

"Oh, I owed someone an apology."

"So you decided to do it onstage?"

"Go big or go home, right?"

Thalia stares at him. "Who was it even to?"

"I'll give you three guesses."

"You're kidding."

"You've known Annabeth for like, a month," Nico says. "How have you already upset her?"

"It was a joke. I said something about Socks liking me better and she said that she was mortally wounded and that I owed her an apology."

"So you went big."

"I went big."

Thalia shakes her head. "You're nuts."

"Thanks."

"But Annabeth wasn't even at this show," Nico says. "How's she going to see it?"

"Ah, Nico." Percy smiles lazily at the ceiling. "The benefits of social media."

"I can't believe you literally took the pettiest fight in existence and blew it up. The media is going to have a field day."

"Well, they're welcome," Percy says. "I don't care. They can theorize to their little hearts' content."

"You're gonna regret that."

"The only person who needs to know who it's for is Annabeth. And maybe you two. I was betting on your curiosity to know every detail of my love life."

"You mean your lack thereof," Nico corrects.

"Just you wait, Nico. Soon it's going to be flourishing and I'll be the one laughing while you're single and unable to mingle."

"Hold your horses there, Jackson," Thalia says mildly. "Let's just see how Annabeth feels about this whole sorry shebang first, and then you can start planning your wedding."

* * *

 **Annabeth** : omg

 **Annabeth** : percy you NUTCASE why did you do that

 **Annabeth** : i cannot believe you

 **Percy** : told you id make it up to you

 **Annabeth** : you're crazy

 **Percy** : thank you

 **Percy** : did you like it

 **Annabeth** : im still in shock

 **Percy** : are you sh00k

 **Annabeth** : percy

 **Percy** : sorry

 **Annabeth** : i am a little though

 **Annabeth** : you're insane i love you

* * *

It is arse o'clock and Percy is pretty sure he's going to drop off standing up.

They're in the arena they'll be playing in later, bundled up in hoodies and fingerless gloves. It's early in the morning, too early ("it's still dark outside," Nico had moaned, "and we literally got to the hotel at one am, why won't he just give us a _break_ ") and Percy is still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. All of them are drowsy. Thalia is so tired it appears she's falling asleep hunched over her bass.

It's not a serious practice, in any means. They're sitting in a circle in the middle of a massive arena, and Mr D is standing by himself in the corner the stage on the phone.

"This is too much," Nico says. "I'm about to fall asleep."

"Speak for yourself," Thalia says, with a yawn. "It's barely six and we're already up, my eyes are on the verge of falling out my skull."

Percy opens his mouth to say something before Mr D ends the call and comes up to them. For the first time he seems to realise how higgledy-piggeldy they are, a group of sleep-deprived teenagers in holey sweaters and fuzzy socks, and frowns. He just shakes his head at them and says, "That was Zeus."

Nico stifles a yawn. "What did he want?"

"He said we need a tour photographer."

Percy frowns. "A what?"

"A tour photographer. Someone to tag along with you on tour and take professional photos of you onstage. You're an uprising band and you're beginning to make headlines, they need more than blurry fan pictures if you want to be anything."

"People don't like us for the pictures, they like us for the music," Nico says.

"And what's keeping them here while the music goes sour is the tabloids," Mr D says pointedly, making Percy's frown. _Sour?_ "But all the Olympus photographers have been taken up, they're already across the world with everyone else."

"I'm sure you'll find someone," Nico says dryly. "There are lots of photographers out there trying to find work. Literally just search 'photograph' in Instagram and you'll come up with thousands."

"That's not the point, none of them are concert photographers."

"There's a difference?"

"Of course there is." Mr D shakes his head adamantly, like he's stressed. Percy wants to snort. Please. Mr D, stressed? All he does is grouch and occasionally put them in line and gets paid masses for it. That's not stressful at all. "That's not the point. We need to find someone, and soon."

Thalia hasn't spoken since he started talking. She looks deep in contemplation. "What about Piper McLean?" she asks finally.

Mr D blinks. "Who?"

"Piper McLean." Percy's heard that name before, but he can't for the life of him remember where. "She's a YouTuber."

 _Ding!_ That's where she's from. She's Annabeth's best friend.

Mr D sighs impatiently. "Thalia, we don't need a YouTuber, we need a professional concert photographer–"

"Which she is." Thalia sounds extremely calm considering she's only had three hours of sleep. "I've seen her Instagram. She does concert photography on the side to YouTube. Last month she did a Paramore concert, I think, and the pictures that came out were pretty spectacular. We can bring her along."

"I don't know..."

"Look at her Instagram," Thalia says coolly. "She's got one just for photography. It's _piperphotography_. She's got a pretty big following, too, just her. We'd bring in some fans. And that's what you want, right? Us to get popular?"

She's got him there. From the beginning they knew that Mr D's main focus was to make money. It seems like a pretty greedy motive, and to an extent Percy supposes it is, except it fuels him to hire good producers and sign promising bands and he works hard on every artist he signs. They're released albums better than they could have dreamed under his label. "I suppose," he says finally.

"Good," Thalia says. "Then check out her Instagram and ask her to come along with us."

Mr D frowns. "I still don't feel good about this," he says, "but I'll do it because we're desperate. What's her Instagram again?"

Thalia takes his phone and starts typing it in. Percy turns around to look back at Nico and finds him blinking blearily at him. "Well," he says intelligently.

"It's not Annabeth, but we'll make do," Nico says.

"What?"

"Obviously you wanted Annabeth on tour with us," he says.

"No I didn't? I've only known her for like, a month."

"Love is timeless, as they say. A month means nothing. Romeo and Juliet only knew each other a couple of days, didn't they?"

Percy pauses. "Nico, Romeo and Juliet both ended up dying."

"They still technically ended up together."

"They _died_."

"That's not the point." Nico waves his hand. "I'm sure Piper will be nice. And if you're really suffering from withdrawals that badly just ask Piper to tell you embarrassing stories as you're falling asleep, like a nice comforting Annabeth-y ASMR."

"What?"

"See, you got it." Nico beams at him, and then at Thalia when she joins their circle again only moments later. "Thalia, tell Percy that Piper will be good."

"Piper will be good," Thalia says emotionlessly. She sobers up almost immediately, picking her bass back up and absently playing a sleepy rendition of Boulevard Of Broken Dreams. "Well, that's sorted."

"Why Piper?" Percy asks.

Nico sighs. "Percy, we were talking about this _literally_ two minutes ago."

"No, not for that reason," Percy says. "It's just – Piper's a bit of a random choice, isn't she?"

Thalia shrugs. "Not really. I know her."

"How?"

"She's dating Jason."

Percy stares at her. " _What_?"

"Oh, did I never tell you?" Thalia sounds very unbothered. Meanwhile, Percy's head is whirling a million miles an hour. "Yeah, they've been going out for a while."

"Why did you never _tell_ me?"

"You're still in contact with Jason?" Nico asks.

"Yeah," Thalia says, completely ignoring Percy. "I found him on Facebook, and we started texting again. Did you know he's in LA?"

"Wait, hold up," Percy says. "I've been chatting to Annabeth for a month and only now do you mention that her best friend is dating your long-lost _brother_? We lived in her house and everything!"

"Just slipped my mind," Thalia says casually. "It's not that big of a deal."

"I didn't even know Jason was still alive," Nico says. "It's quite nice to know that he is."

"Of course Jason's still alive," Thalia says, sounded slightly insulted.

Nico holds up his hands. "We haven't spoken to him in years. It's been, what, twelve, thirteen, years since I saw him last? And you never bothered bringing him up, so, I dunno, I thought having dead siblings was, like, a tradition."

"You did not just say that," Percy says.

Nico raises his hands. "It's a fair point."

"Either way," Thalia says. "My brother's girlfriend now our photographer. Time to get used to it."

* * *

 **A/N that ended in such an awkward place i am so sorry i just didn't know where to end it**

 **anyWAy how are we all my pals? I hope we're all good! i'm currently at a friend's house where i'm uploading this from (woo) and also to celebrate taylor swift's new single that's where the song quote of the chapter comes from (say what you want about her but i actually really really like gorgeous it's a great song)**

 **thank you to so many people congratulating me on the competition! i actually made it in my local newspaper so that's pretty cool (although the picture is utterly revolting ew) also i got one of the highest scores in my english test so that's cool too**

 **how are you finding percabeth? did you like them? they're ever so much fun to write so i hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoy writing them but i digress**

 **thank you all so so so much for 74 reviews! you guys are utterly amazing (also allineedisabook THAT'S SO COOL harry potter world is literally the best i've been twice [fun fact once was in a bin bag] you're gonna have so much fun) and i always get so happy whenever i see i've got a new review you are literally the best ever i love u xxxx**

 **anyway i hope you enjoyed the chapter! please tell me what you thought and i shall see you next Saturday love u my beans xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

"If we could fall in love together  
Pull me closer, kiss me faster  
Take me to your happily ever after"

\- Closer Faster, Against The Current

* * *

Piper McLean is a _character_.

Percy meets her for the first time in Wyoming. Mr D had booked her a hotel room because she arrived a day before they did, so when Percy does end up meeting her he is tired and sore and grouchy because Nico had finished the last of the peanut butter and not told him and just generally not in the best mood to be in when you're meeting your potential future wife's best friend.

Also your band mate's long-lost brother's girlfriend. Percy is still confused about that. Whatever. He'll ask her later.

Piper herself is simply fascinating to be around. It appears none of her clothes fit her properly, because her jeans are too high above the ankle and her flannel shirt is too big and she's wearing a ring on her thumb that's so big she could probably also squeeze her pinkie in too. The shirt she's wearing under her flannel appears to be a bit stained and her sneakers have little drawings all over them. She's waiting in the hotel lobby for them, and Percy spots her immediately because of her hair (brown, a little straggly and so uneven he's pretty sure she cut it herself with kid's scissors). When he calls out her name, she whirls around and beams.

"Hey!" she calls.

She rushes over and gives them all a big hug. Percy is– _not_ expecting that, because they're virtual strangers, but he accepts it wholeheartedly nonetheless and hugs her tightly back. She smells of mint and canned pineapple, and it's a bit odd but it fits.

When she pulls back she's smiling extra wide. "It's so good to see you," she says. "Annabeth has been fawning over you for months now, so it's great to finally meet the boy who's won her heart in person." She pulls back a bit and examines him. "Wow, she's right, you _are_ rather attractive."

Percy blinks. " _Rather_?"

Piper laughs.

Thalia grabs her before she can say anything else and gives her a big hug. From behind him, Nico almost lets out a gasp, which Percy fully understands because it's already a nightmare trying to wrestle Thalia into a sibling cuddle and now she's willingly giving a stranger a tight hug? How rude.

Percy is frankly a little affronted. However, it does all make sense when Thalia pulls back and says, "So _this_ is my potential sister-in-law."

"Ah," Nico says to Percy. "I forget that's a thing."

Piper giggles a little. "Not yet."

"Soon," Thalia reminds. "Jason's a gentleman but he also knows what he wants. He'll put a ring on it soon."

"It's so odd hearing her refer to Jason like that," Nico says thoughtfully. "Like, honestly. I _did_ think was dead. It's like me referring to Meryl Streep in the present tense."

Percy frowns. "But Meryl Streep hasn't died yet."

"Fine, Tom Jones, then."

Percy is just about to tell Nico that Tom Jones hasn't died yet either when Piper turns and gives Nico a little hug too. It's a little less full-on than the ones she gave Percy and Thalia, but Percy reckons that's only because she has no ties linking to him yet. Still, Nico seems delighted and hugs her back.

"You're our new concert photographer," he says, pleased.

"She is indeed," Mr D says, materialising out of nowhere. He strolls up to them, impeccable as always in his suit and tie. He _is_ wearing sandals, though, and when Percy first notices them he's so taken aback that he can't look away for the next few moments. They're utterly hideous. Mr D gives Piper a firm look. "I paid a lot of money for you. You better be up to standards."

Piper nods, a little unsurely. "Yes, sir."

"I've looked at your resume and photographs. You're quite excellent."

"Thank you."

"If I think you aren't working well enough, however, I will have no hesitation in letting you go on the spot. You better be up to the standards I've seen in some of your previous works."

"That I can guarantee, sir."

Mr D purses his lips, and struts off to the front desk.

"Don't worry," Thalia says to Piper. "He's always that grumpy."

"Charming," Piper says.

"Are you staying in this hotel?" Nico asks.

"Yep." Piper nods. "I think you guys are too, or at least for tonight. Tomorrow you're off Denver. I'll just tag along in one of the road buses."

"You can stay in our bus," Nico offers. "We've got a spare bunk, 'cause there's only three of us."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly–"

"'Course you could," Thalia says. "Potential sister-in-law, remember? Jason would have my head if he knew I wasn't treating you with utmost respect."

"He would have your head if he knew how you treated him," Percy says. "I'm sure he's not thrilled to know that you haven't breathed a word about him for almost a decade."

Piper frowns. "Huh?"

"It's a very long story," Thalia says. "Something about long-lost relatives and these goons taking everything too personally."

"It is personal," Percy grouches. "He's our cousin, too."

Mr D comes over holding a bunch of room keys before Thalia can fire back with her rebuttal. He hands one to Nico. "Here are your keys," he says. "Your room numbers are on them. Please try not to cause anymore mayhem, you already have enough scandals under your belt without me having to bribe the receptionist to not blab about how you prank-called her saying Nico's foot was stuck in the toilet, okay?"

Piper twitches with laughter.

Thalia holds out her hand. "We make no promises."

Mr D rolls his eyes and starts to walk away.

Thalia pauses. "Wait, what about my key?"

"You already have it. Nico's holding it."

Thalia looks over to the key in Nico's hand. "We're _sharing_? All three of us?"

Percy groans. "Oh, come on! We had to do that in Salt Lake, please don't make us do it again."

"Nico farts in his sleep!" Thalia says desperately.

Nico holds up his hands. "That is not strictly my fault."

Mr D shrugs. "It costs too much to hire out three separate rooms."

"What about just two?" Thalia asks. "Percy and Nico can share!"

"Hey!" Percy says.

" _Hey_!" Nico cries.

"I'm sorry," Mr D says in a voice that means he's really not sorry at all. "But we have to do what we have to do. If it's really that bad one of you can sleep in the bathtub. We already have to hire out over twenty rooms for all the tour management. You'll live."

Thalia sulks. Sometimes it's hard to remember she's almost twenty years old.

Mr D patters away to the rest of the crew, Thalia glaring at his back. Nico just shrugs, thoroughly unbothered (somehow his nose is immune to the smell of his farts, meaning that the only dilemma in sharing is just how they're all going to fit on the bed and not whether or not they're going to survive being gassed to death during the night) and grabs his suitcase, heading towards to the lift. Piper looks down at her room key that she had dug out of her pocket, shrugs, and follows him.

Percy considers waiting with Thalia down in the lobby as a form of protest before he remembers Nico has a triple-pack of microwaveable waffles in his suitcase and sheepishly follows them.

Piper disappears into a room with a flick of her faded flannel. Nico struggles for a few moments with their key card in the door, until he finally gets it unlocked and pushes the door open. It's not a bad room, as far as hotel rooms go – they've got a decent sized wardrobe that none of them will unpack their stuff into, a small TV and a queen-sized bed. Percy reckons he and Nico will be sharing that – it is very, very, _very_ rare that Thalia will willingly share a bed with them – and Thalia could take the tiny sofa pushed into the corner.

Nico happily dumps his bags in the centre of the room. "Well, this is nice," he says.

"I agree," Percy says. "Look, they've even given us snacks." He peers at the sign. "But they are extremely expensive so we'll steer clear."

"How expensive are we talking here?"

"How about an ordinary corner shop Snickers being five dollars?"

Nico nears spits. "Outrageous! Greedy bastards. We must rebel, Percy. What do you suppose we do? Open them all up and lick them?"

"We could just eat our waffles," Percy suggests. Nico's idea sounds excellent except the last time they had tried to pull something like that they had gotten a complaint and Mr D had had to pay the hotel back for all the overpriced food they had sabotaged, making sure to give the three of them the evil eye as he was doing so. In retaliation, he made sure the next four hotels they stayed at they had to all share a tiny broom closet of a room with a single bed.

"Great idea," Nico says sagely. "We shall do it in front of the fridge as to prove the food wrong."

"Or we could eat them in the comfort of our bed," Percy suggests, but Nico has already ripped the first bag open and shoves one in his mouth, aggressively chewing in the reflection of the mini-fridge as if to make a point. Percy meekly takes the spot next to him and starts tearing his own waffle up, placing it piece by piece into his mouth.

It's how Thalia finds them only minutes later, sitting on the hard floor in front of the fridge covered in waffle crumbs. She takes one look and closes her eyes. "I don't know what's happening," she says, "but please, don't explain it to me."

* * *

Percy needs the loo.

Like, he really needs the loo.

But he's not quite sure how he's going to achieve this, because it's 1:36 in the morning and Thalia is currently asleep in the bathtub, and when woken before 7am she turns into something along the lines of the Hulk on steroids and Jack The Ripper. He lies awake, listening to Nico snore next to him, and contemplates the pros and cons of waking her up.

In the end, he lets out a sigh and rolls out of bed. In hotels like this there's always a communal toilet at the end of the hall in case the en suite drainage pipes are blocked. Sure, it's going to be gross and there's probably going to be some form of, well, _excreta_ , on the ground and by God it's going to reek to holy hell, but it's better then getting his toenails ripped out, so he dutifully knuckles at his eyes and starts sleepily making his way down the hall.

Piper's light is still on. He can see it from under the door, and he can hear the quiet murmur of voices – from the crackle of static, he reckons one of those belongs to Annabeth on Skype, and he smiles softly. He's not paying attention enough to hear what they're saying but he remembers how nice it was to talk to your friends for so long it seeps into the night. He and Jason used to do that, before he went AWOL and then reappeared many years later with a girlfriend.

(No, he's never going to get over that.)

He shuffles to the toilet and blindly fumbles for the light. Luckily, this hotel seems to be a little more classy than the ones he's previously stayed at, and by that he means there are no visible rats and when he sits on the loo he doesn't feel cobwebs brush his arms and cockroaches scuttle over his feet (he is not kidding when he says the communal toilets are rank – the en suites may be polished so firmly he can see his reflection in them but no matter what the communals will always be utterly disgusting).

After he spots a small house spider squatting in the corner, he decides it'd be best if he closed his eyes. Rather you feel them then see them. In some cases.

He finishes and stands up, flushing the toilet and washing his hands. He stumbles blearily out, suddenly so overcome by exhaustion that he almost falls asleep standing up. However, just as he's passing Piper's room, he hears something that wakes him right up.

"You can ask about him, you know."

This wouldn't necessarily be a big deal, you know. Percy has never prided himself in being a peeping Tom, or listening Tom (or any Tom for that matter), but when the next sentence involves his name you simply cannot blame him for listening in.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"I'm talking about your big ugly crush on Percy, that's what."

Percy stills.

 _What?_

Annabeth lets out a laugh. "It's not ugly."

" _Oh, Piper, come look at this picture of him at the VMAs last year! Look how pretty he is_!"

"I have never said that."

"My camera roll is literally ninety percent screenshots of all the cute things he's sent you." There's a small pause. "Why don't you just _tell_ him?"

"I can't."

"And why not?"

"Because! What if he doesn't like me back? It would ruin everything."

"I'm pretty sure he feels the same way, Beth."

"And I'm pretty sure you're wrong."

"He literally asked you on a date."

Annabeth sighs. Percy can hear his heartbeat everywhere. "But I messed it up and invited Thalia as well. Even if he did like me I ruined every chance I would get. He's probably moved on, anyway."

Piper lets out a little huff. "For one of the smartest people I know, Annabeth, you can be rather stupid sometimes."

"Hey!"

"I'm not kidding. You spoke, what, once?, before you asked him to petsit and he agreed. To a complete stranger. That's not something just anyone does."

"He's just being nice."

"And before that you broke your ankle onstage and he literally picked you up and held you up so you wouldn't be in pain and postponed his acceptance speech–"

"–by like six seconds–"

"–so he could pass you onto me so you wouldn't have to stand on your injured ankle. Also, um? How about when he _fell_?"

"What has that got to do anything?"

"Did you see the videos? He fell because he was looking at you!"

There's a small pause, and then Annabeth speaks. Her voice is small and hopeful. "Really?"

"Annabeth, you _boob_ , did you even watch the video? Come on, girl! He's pining after you hardcore. Like, just as ugly as you are to him. When I met him today – by the way, you were so right, he is very good-looking – and told him that I was glad I could finally meet him because you wouldn't shut up about him he went bright red."

"Piper! You said that?"

"Well, of course, it would be creepy if I just happened to know everything about him spontaneously. I had to provide myself a little backstory."

"That's so embarrassing! Why did you say that?"

"Relax, he looked more pleased than anything. And me and Thalia were talking earlier, and she said that sometimes she literally has to peel him off his phone to stop texting you to get on stage."

Percy is sweating everywhere. He feels uncomfortable hearing himself being referred to just 'Percy' like he's not just outside the door, which technically speaking he shouldn't even be, but also– _Annabeth likes him?_ Pretty Annabeth with the electric eyes and fuzzy sweaters and scowly cat, who let him babysit her pets and texts him outdated memes and laughs too much at her own jokes?

And she's afraid he doesn't like her back?

He has a half mind to barge in and propose right there on the spot, but he's so paralysed by this newfound knowledge he's not sure he can move from where he's crouched by the door.

"He's head over heels," Piper says primly. "And this is coming from the girl who's going to be living out his back pockets for the next few months. If it bothers you that much I can subtly try and squeeze it out of him."

" _Don't you dare_!"

Piper squeaks with laughter. "I won't, I won't, I'm kidding." There's a small pause. "Hey, when are you coming to Michigan again?"

"Next month, I believe?"

"Do you know the dates?"

"Uh, twentieth to twenty-eighth, I think? I'd need to double check but I'm pretty sure that's it. Why?"

"I'm pretty sure the tour might coincide with that."

There's a surprised gasp. "Really?"

"Yeah. Dionykiss or whatever his name is gave me a schedule of tour dates, because despite his atrocious lack of consideration for anything to do with anyone his heart is in the semi-right place and he realises that I do have a job, so he said if I needed to be anywhere I'd just have to let him know. They're heading to Denver tomorrow night after the show, and then to Santa Fe, and then they're flying back up to North Dakota and just heading straight. We'd be in Michigan for a bit."

"No way! We'll have to meet up."

"Absolutely. We've been needing to do a collab for a while."

"Not for YouTube, you idiot, as friends! We haven't been on a date for a while."

"Oh! Well, yes, that has to happen. Are you flying back to LA afterwards or going anywhere else?"

"I'm heading up to Canada for a few days to meet Hazel's boyfriend. Apparently he's really nice."

"Oh, I've been meaning to do that. Send Hazel my best wishes when you arrive."

"Will do. I can Skype you while I'm there and we can chat, like the old days."

"The Golden Oldies, as we used to call it."

"We never called it that."

"That's true. And hey, maybe while you're in Michigan you can meet up with Percy."

"Not everything I do is revolved around Percy."

Percy smiles a little to himself.

"You sure about that?" Piper clears her throat. " _Oh, let's watch Jurassic World tonight, Piper, it's Percy's favourite! Chocolate chip cookies! Oh, Piper, we must get those. Did you know they're Percy's favourite?_ "

"I do not talk like that."

"I distinctly remember you looking over my shoulder while I was editing a video and going, _I think you should change the header bar to, like, green, 'cause it'd match Percy's eyes_."

"It was a mere suggestion. Which you didn't even follow through with. And I never said to match Percy's eyes."

"I connected the dots." She pauses. "You should text Percy, say you'll be in Michigan while he's there. Hang out."

"Don't say anything to him, Piper, please."

"I won't. I may be a crap friend but I'm not that crap."

"You're not a crap friend."

"You'll be a crap friend if you don't hang out with Percy in Michigan. Not even as a date, just a casual coffee hang-out."

"We've got, like, a month until that happens."

"Never too early to start planning."

Percy doesn't hear the rest of their conversation. He pushes himself up onto his feet and starts to head back to his room, his head heavy with all this information. Annabeth likes him. Annabeth wants to date him. Annabeth is going to be in Michigan at the same time he is.

He collapses back into bed next to Nico, who's still snoring like a freight train. His mind is whirring and he stares up in the darkness at the ceiling. He doesn't think he's able to process anything.

 _Annabeth likes him._

He doesn't fall back asleep for hours.

* * *

The concert the next night goes excellently.

Piper is prowling the front of the stage with her camera, dressed in a new set of ill-fitting clothes (this time it's a pair of Vans that look incredibly small and a denim jacket that falls to her knuckles) and the arena is alight with energy. Thalia is unsurprisingly everywhere, like she normally is, and at some point Nico unnecessarily abandons his shirt and a group of girls near the front look near unconsciousness.

Percy is channeling all his pent-up emotion from last night into his performance. They haven't got a lot of love songs, since none of them have ever really had a proper relationship before, but one of Percy's favourites is called Midnight and he wrote it when it was fifteen about a girl who had taken his first kiss and then a trip to Australia almost immediately afterwards. It's full of longing and nostalgia and teen angst, like most of their work is, but this time when Percy sings it he's singing it to a person. It's the most effort he's ever put into this song.

He's not just singing it to a faceless girl anymore. He's singing it to Annabeth.

It's the second time on the American leg of their tour he's dedicated a song to Annabeth, but unlike last time he keeps this one quiet. For now, he wants them to be just them.

* * *

 **A/N hello my loves! how are we all today?**

 **i wrote this solely off of strawberries and malteser spread, something i didn't know existed until my sister came home with a jar of it (it's AMAZING my friends but also im quite sure America doesn't have maltesers which is most unfortunate). i also wrote this listening to the album red by my gal t-swift (it's one of her best to date i promise you) so if this feels unnaturally cliché and fluffy you know why**

 **but good news percabeth is happening isn't this exciting! i know the whole 'love interest a listens onto a conversation in which love interest b confesses their love for love interest a' is way overdone and cliche but i mean it's percabeth they're both very stubborn and a lil dumb at the rate this story was going they'd keep accidentally friend-zoning each other so i needed to give them a little push**

 **prepare yourself lads next chapter is the MICHIGAN MEETUP (aka the Date You've All Been Waiting For) so that's pretty swag**

 **ALSO! thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews can you believe we're nearly at one hundred reviews already and this is only chapter eight how nuts is that. this is all down to you my loves so thank you so much xxx**

 **anyway! i hope you liked that and please tell me what you thought! i shall see you all next Saturday my loves byeee! xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

"No one is as lucky as us  
We're not at the end but we already won"

\- Where The Lines Overlap, Paramore

* * *

The crowd is _wild_ in Michigan.

Percy never likes to pick favourites when it comes to places with the best fans, and that's mainly because he's got the memory of the goldfish and he can barely remember what he has for breakfast let alone which city screamed the loudest, but he thinks that Michigan might be one of the places he'll hold close to his heart. They're playing a smaller venue tonight, but for two nights is a row to make up for it, and it feels more intimate, somehow, because there are less fans. At one point they pause the show in between songs because Percy was stupid and snapped two strings on his guitar ( _two_ ) and answer a few fan questions, and it's such a wonderful environment that Percy feels like he's in seventh heaven.

"Who's the laziest?" someone calls.

"Nico," Thalia says immediately.

Nico squawks indignantly. "I'm not _lazy_!" he cries. "I'm just– _relaxed_."

"Whatever you say, Neeks."

"Next question," Percy says.

The crowd yells intelligibly and Percy almost falls backward at the noise. Eventually, he finds a girl with braids waving her hand and points at her. "Blue shirt!" he says. "What's your name?"

"Amelie."

"One of Dad's funeral guests was called Amelie," Nico tells Percy quietly so the crowd can't hear. "I remember her because when the guys were trying to unload her into the hearse they dropped the coffin and she rolled out and touched one of them on the ankle."

Percy stares at him.

Thalia seems to realise Percy and Nico are in conversation so she takes over and beams at the girl. "Well, ask away, Amelie."

"Favourite song off the album?"

"Marvellous question," Thalia says. "For me, it's probably Midnight. Pretty cool song, pretty personal. We wrote it when we were watching TV and eating takeaway, and it was like one in the morning and I kind of came up with a guitar riff, and I was like, awesome, so Nico hooked me up with some lyrics he had been working on and the two of us wrote the rest of it."

"I helped," Percy says.

"No he didn't."

"My favourite song," Nico interrupts quickly, "is Bianca. Because it's about my sister and I like it a lot. I also like Not Over You because it's in three/four timing, which literally no one here cares about – "

"I care!" a random girl yells from the back. The crowd titters away.

"Well, grand, nice to know someone appreciates my efforts," Nico says. "Um. It's also cool to play live. Perce?"

"I like Catching Butterflies," Percy says. "'Cause. It's cool."

"Articulate," Thalia mutters. She raises her voice. "I think we can do one more question. Anyone got anything to ask?"

"How do you know Annabeth Chase?"

It's shouted loud and clear before Thalia can even finish her sentence. Percy admires the asker's tactics, because at least now he's heard it, but it's so sudden he almost flinches in surprise.

Thalia finds it all in good humour, however. "Well, that's our question, I suppose," she says. "Percy?"

"Yes," Percy says. "Um. Well. That's quite a funny story, actually." He scratches the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "We met for the first time at the TCAs, you know, when we had that– fall of glory, you know the one?" The crowd hums in agreement. Someone even whoops, and Percy isn't sure whether to be insulted or flattered. "Anyway, so afterwards I DMed her and we bonded over our injuries. Then she asked me to petsit her animals – you know her animals? She was going away and she needed assistance, so, as the gentleman I am, I so graciously accepted, and living in someone's house for three days kind of gets you pretty well acquainted with them, so we became friends. It's pretty cool, yeah."

The crowd cheers. An alarming amount of people have their phones out, so Percy knows by tonight they'll be at least five videos circling Twitter of him discussing the beginning of his and Annabeth's friendship. He hopes he didn't say anything too stupid. Annabeth is always prowling, ready with humiliation material. If he said anything particularly sappy or dumb she'll be all over him.

Then again, she does like him back, so it could be considered a progression of their relationship. Maybe he should have winked at the end, like he's keeping a secret. That would rile the fans up, wouldn't it? He probably could have gotten the 'percabeth' hashtag trending. That would have been sick.

Damn, he always gets the best ideas when it's too late.

Eventually, the concert gets back on its feet. One of the their sound technicians comes back in with Percy's guitar restringed and tuned to perfection, and the crowd roars as all three of them clamber behind their respective instruments again. They launch into their next song, and somehow Percy is even more fueled with the knowledge that Annabeth will get yet another concert video of him talking about her (greedy cow) and also that she _likes him back_ and he'll _soon_ _see her even though he's not directly meant to know about_ _that_ that he's absolutely electric. He bounces around like he had dosed on caffeine before he went onstage, which he didn't (Nico is a firm believer in 'nature over nicotine', whatever that means, so before their concerts they each eat their weight in bananas) and he's so excited even at one point be bounces behind the drum set with Nico and presses a big wet kiss to his face and then leaps off like a monkey.

They're all high off the concert itself and the screams and each other but Percy is also high off Annabeth and that's what keeps him giving 110% until the final bows.

"You were insane out there, Percy," Nico says. "Honestly, how do you have that much energy?"

"You aren't taking drugs, are you?" Thalia asks.

 _I'm taking_ love _!_ Percy inwardly declares, before realizing how cringey and stupid that sounds, so instead he opts for a little shrug. "Not that I'm aware of," he says.

Thalia stares at him oddly for a while, and then raises her eyebrows and turns away. "All right, then."

Piper comes bouncing up from backstage to congratulate them on their performance. She's wearing a faded Ravenclaw sweatshirt that Percy recognises from one of Annabeth's videos, and he's not even sure whom it belongs to but it makes him so nostalgic for her that his heart stutters a little in his chest. "You were so good!" she says. "You were on fire!"

Percy gratefully accepts a towel one of the stagehands gives him and scrubs it through his hair. The only downside to going so hard for an hour is that at the end of every concert his hair, clothes, skin, _everything_ is soaked with sweat. "Thanks," he says.

"I got some great pictures," Piper says. "I'll send them to Dionysus to upload to your socials."

"Can I see?" Percy asks.

"Oh, sure." Piper lifts her camera strap over her head and hands it Percy. "Take care of it, that thing is my child. I'm just gonna head to the loo real quick."

Percy nods and watches her disappear down one of the corridors, and then switches on the camera and looks at the little screen. Nico and Thalia have long since headed into their dressing room, probably to strip naked and lie in front of the giant fans they have stored in there until someone calls them out to get into the car, so Percy takes his time in looking at all the pictures.

Piper is an incredible photographer – every picture is beautiful. There are couple of blurry ones that he reckons were accidents, but the picture that stops him is the one that she must have taken while they were answering questions. They're all sat at the edge of the stage, holding microphones, and Percy's favourite is the one where she caught them all mid-laugh, their eyes scrunched together. But the picture after it Percy can't help but pause at. He zooms in on himself.

He can almost instantly tell what question he's answering. Not because of the amused looks of Thalia and Nico in the background or the way his hand is stretched out.

Because he looks so sickening in love it almost makes him vomit.

For the first time, he's glad he didn't overdo the Annabeth story more than he did. His expression honestly says enough.

* * *

Annabeth calls him later that evening.

They're all packed in the hotel when he gets the call. Thank the lord, Mr D decided to spare them and now they've got two rooms, so Percy and Nico and then Thalia and Piper can share, and they've each got two separate beds in them! Percy nearly cried when he saw them. He won't get gassed to death tonight. Hallelujah. He hasn't even met Annabeth for coffee yet.

Nico is warbling Mariah Carey in the shower, and Percy is scrolling through Twitter on his bed when his phone starts to vibrate in his hand. He smiles when he sees the caller ID and presses answer. "Annabeth," he greets.

"You just can't stop talking about me, can you?" she says. He can hear her smile through the line.

"Oh, have you seen the video?"

"A fan tagged me in it."

"I'm assuming you enjoyed it."

"You bring me up so much I'm beginning to get convinced you're in love with me or something."

"Or something." He stretches and rolls over. "Face it, Chase, this whole time I've just been trying to subtly tell you about my massive crush on you."

Ah. If only she knew how right he was. Which she probably might, who knows. He has learnt not to underestimate her intelligence.

"Well, you've certainly gone all out," Annabeth says. "We're trending, did you know?"

Percy laughs a little. "Seriously?"

"Number four on Twitter. And sixteen on YouTube."

" _YouTube_?"

"Yeah, someone uploaded the video." There's a small pause, presumably Annabeth scrolling through her feed. "You've done a good job, I'll admit. I might have to marry you now."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mm." Another pause. "Oh, look, we've been bunked up to fifteen on YouTube."

"I'll take you on date when I'm back in LA," Percy promises, half-joking. He's still not entirely sure on the depth or magnitude of Annabeth's feelings for him, as in whether or not it's just a casual thing or a serious thing, but regardless he's decided to through all caution to the wind and ask. Besides, if she says no, he can pretend it was still part of their ongoing joke from earlier.

Foolproof.

"Hold your horses, big boy," Annabeth says with a laugh. "You've still several more months of tour left."

"Where are you? I can ship you over."

This time Percy's not serious at all. He knows Annabeth is meant to be coming to Michigan tonight. It's all about the subtlety.

"I'm in Michigan, actually," Annabeth says.

Percy feigns surprise. "Wait, really? So are we!"

"No way!"

"We should meet up," Percy says. "I can take you on that date."

Annabeth laughs. "Don't you have a concert tomorrow?"

"Only in the evening. We don't need to soundcheck or anything because we did that all today. We're playing the same venue."

"Ah." He can hear the smile in her voice. He wonders if she can hear the pound of his heartbeat in his. "Well, in that case, we must hang out."

"Just the two of us," Percy says quickly.

"Just the two of us? You're feeling daring tonight."

"What can I say?"

"My presence is worth a lot," Annabeth says, her voice teasing. "You're going to have prove that you're worthy of hanging out."

"I'll make you a bet," Percy says. "If I get us to trend number one on Twitter by tomorrow morning, you'll go on a date with me."

Annabeth actually laughs at that. "Are you seriously putting the future of our relationship into the hands of our fans?"

"It's been two hours since our concert ended and there are already at least seven videos of me talking about you on Twitter. It's been two hours and we're already _trending_. It'll be no problem."

"Well," Annabeth says, "if you're sure."

"Never been more so."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Percy," she says, her voice softer. "Goodnight."

"Night, Beth."

The phone call ends.

Oh, it's so on.

Percy opens up his camera roll and scrolls through it until he finds the picture he's looking for – a screenshot of one of his and Annabeth's late-night FaceTimes, where Percy's got his eyes crossed in the little window at the bottom and Annabeth's face, taking up the main screen, is scrunched in laughter. He had originally taken it to send to Thalia as a kind of "ha ha I stole your best friend", but never did.

It's a cute picture. Percy smiles to himself and opens up Twitter.

 **percyjackson:** [image24] #percabeth

* * *

"I do hope you realise that qualified as cheating," Annabeth says, taking a sip of her milkshake. "You were meant to leave it up to the fans, not tweet it out yourself."

"Well, it worked," Percy says. "Because now you're on a date with me."

The cool part? _She actually is_.

Percy's tweet had amassed around five thousand retweets and twenty thousand likes (it's his most popular tweet to date, actually, and he's not even mad about it) by the time he had woken up, and, as luck would have it, the 'percabeth' hashtag was trending at number one. Both Thalia and Piper had sent him screenshots of the trending page (Thalia's text reading "ur so gross just get married already please" and Piper's being "WHY ARE YOU BOTH LIKE THIS") and Nico had given him several flirty faces over their pains au chocolat at breakfast that morning but Percy was just so elated at Annabeth's simple text ' _looks like we're going on a date loser_ ' that he didn't even care. He had beamed at Nico and sent Thalia and Piper back various heart emojis and giggled happily to himself all the way up the stairs back to his room.

He and Annabeth had agreed to meet at a quaint little coffee bar off a side road neither of them had ever heard of before. They're both decked out in an assortment of large shapeless clothing and Annabeth is wearing her glasses so no one recognises them, but it's great nonetheless because the cashier saw right through their disguises but instead of screaming and demanding selfies she had just smiled a little and given them both large milkshakes for the price of two smalls. Now they're strolling through the streets, just talking. Percy had long since finished his milkshake because at the end of the day he is a teenage boy who can inhale food like it's air, but Annabeth is still sipping at it. Honestly, she's barely made a dent.

"Do you need help with that?" he offers.

"No, I'm good," she says. "I'm savouring it."

"It's literally just a chocolate milkshake."

"So? This is one of the best chocolate milkshakes I've ever had. I'm allowed to take my time."

"Suit yourself," Percy says. "Fancy sitting in the park for a bit?"

"Splendid idea."

They cross the road and head over to the park. Percy feels a little like a rebellious teenager, which to an extent he supposes he is, because instead of using the gate like normal human beings they climb the fence (granted, it's up to their knees) and push through a herd of shrubbery to get to the grass on the other side. Thankfully, it's pretty empty – the only people Percy can see is a little family a few yards away – so they pick a nice sunny spot and sit down. Percy sheds his jacket to offer for her to sit on but she seems quite content with just the grass, so he shrugs and puts it under his own bottom. Annabeth may be fine with caterpillars crawling inside her jeans but he's certainly not.

Annabeth folds her legs and puts the straw of her milkshake back in her mouth. "Thank you for taking me on this date," she says. "It's really lovely."

"Only the best for you, m'lady."

Annabeth laughs. "I mean, we could've literally stayed indoors and binge-watched Game Of Thrones and I would have been more than thrilled, so anything even remotely above that is, like, on par with you taking me to Paris for a fancy meal."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Don't actually take me to Paris for a fancy meal."

"I won't, don't worry. If I were to actually take you anywhere, it would probably be Greece or something."

"Have you been before?"

"To Greece? Once. All our dads are from Greece – their dad was some kind of a big Greek politician, I don't know – but because I lived with my mom who's not so well off we didn't go to lots of fancy places. One year, though, when was like eleven or something, my dad kind of realised he was a bit of a dirtwipe and decided to apologise by taking us all to Greece. As in me, my mom, Thalia's family, Nico's family, all of it."

"Was it fun?"

"I mean. Our dads all hate each other, and up until I was fourteen I had only spoken to Thalia and Nico and all the other cousins, like. Five times? So I only knew my mom. But yeah, I suppose you could call it fun."

Annabeth tilts her head. "Wait, how did you guys end up forming a band then?"

"Our dads accidentally sent us all to the same boarding school," Percy says. "I know, right, highly coincidental. I'm pretty sure all their secretaries coordinated and did it on purpose just to mess with them, but whatever. At this point I hadn't seen them for years – after the disaster of a holiday, they just decided it would be best if we never talk to each other again – so when I did bump into them it took me a while to realise that these guys were my cousins. And then we kind of became best friends and then figured that we don't all suck at playing instruments and singing, so we uploaded some stuff to YouTube, and, yeah. We kind of grew from there."

Annabeth smiles. "We both had our starts on YouTube."

Percy has never realised that before. "Oh, yeah."

"I think around the same time, too. When did you start posting your stuff?"

"Two thousand and twelve."

"Oh, okay, I started two thousand and nine. Still. It's crazy how successful we got."

"I know." Percy lets out a sigh of disbelief and looks up at the sky. "Sometimes I just can't believe it. Like, we totally lucked out."

"I bet it was a massive middle finger to your dads."

"You don't even know. We visited them sometime last year, actually, and they'd been following us for a bit so they knew were a band, but they'd only been keeping tabs on us loosely because we showed up at their house for unexpected sort of brunch with Mr D in tow, for nothing more than shock value, and they looked ready to pass out. It was quite hilarious."

"I can imagine. My mom flipped her lid when I told her I wanted to do YouTube."

"Wait, really?"

"Absolutely. I was an Honours student, did you know? Class valedictorian, too, and graduated with straight As. I was at university majoring in Maths and Architecture and also interning at a local architectural firm. Mom was so pleased. She's super smart, so I think she was just happy that her daughter wasn't a total flop. She was all for me becoming an architect, which is something I'd still really like to do. But I've also quite liked photography and stuff – I'm definitely not a concert photographer like Piper or anything, I'm awful at that stuff – and I was in Film Studies in high school. One of our projects was to make a short film, so I did, and I uploaded it to YouTube, and it got twenty thousand views, which is a lot considering I was literally a high-schooler with a camera and a knack for finding pretty places. I then figured I actually kind of liked making videos, so I kept at it, and then a lot of people were like, you should do a Q&A or whatever, so I did, and then I realised people quite liked videos involving me, so I just kept doing that."

"Did you end up graduating from college?"

"Oh, of course. I still have my degree and a rather impressive resume. It wasn't until maybe two or three years ago that I started doing YouTube full-time, even though I've been doing it for so long. I kept interning and various firms and I worked in a bunch of grocery stores, and then I realised my YouTube income was enough to support me without having to bag fruit six hours a day, and because YouTube is a bit of a full-time job I couldn't exactly keep trying for jobs at firms, so I just. Stopped."

Percy watches her face. "And your mom wasn't pleased?"

"Hell no. When I told her I was doing YouTube full-time she didn't talk to me for two months."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. But my mom's always been a little stuck-up, so it's okay."

Percy sits back. "Huh."

Annabeth laughs a little at his startled face. "This is great first-date chat."

"We do the deep stuff first," Percy says. "So we can potentially scare the other off before we do any actual courting."

"Great plan," Annabeth says. She takes another sip of her milkshake and then holds it out. "You want to finish this?"

"I'd be thrilled," Percy says, taking a long, slow sip. "Ah. I haven't had a good old chocolate milkshake for a while."

"Well, that's your fault," Annabeth says, "Mr Blue-Cherry-Coke-And-Also-Some-Blueberries-Too. You're like the white girl Starbucks order of milkshake joints."

"Can I help it? Mine tasted so good."

"And yet you unbelievably have space for another half a milkshake."

"Oh, babe, we haven't even got started yet," Percy says. He hauls himself up. "What are your thoughts on pizza?"

They end up going down to the pizzeria by the wharf. It's quite empty for a pizzeria but Percy takes it in his stride and uses its emptiness to their advantage, and picks a nice private table at the back. A waitress comes up to order, and it's obvious by the way her eyes widen at the sight of them she recognises them but she's wonderfully professional about the whole thing. Percy gets a pizza with pepperoni and olives and Annabeth gets a margherita ("you're so _boring_ , Annabeth." "Well, I'm _sorry_ I don't have six different ingredients in the title of my food") and as the waitress walks away Percy leans over the table and says, "so."

Annabeth giggles a little. "So."

"How are you enjoying this date so far?"

"It's really fun," Annabeth says honestly. "I'm having a great time."

"Would you be game on, perhaps, going on more dates in the future?"

Annabeth smiles. "Maybe."

" _Maybe_?"

"Well, it all depends on the quality of this pizza."

"But I can't control that!"

"Precisely," Annabeth says, which doesn't even make any sense. "Now, hold on, I need to Instagram this table set-up."

Percy snorts. "You're so basic."

Annabeth waves her phone in Percy's face. She even has one of those knobbly things on the back meant to perfect the art of taking selfies, and Percy has never been so fond. "I'm a YouTuber, Percy, of course my Instagram theme has to be perfect."

"Your Instagram theme is nothing of the sort."

"That's true, but I can try. Piper dared me to try and keep up a theme of sorts for the next three months and it's just so hard. But I do want to take a picture of this table set-up because it's very pretty. Just let me embrace my inner Pinterest blogger for the next two minutes."

Percy smiles. "All right, then."

"Grand. I just need to ask one of the workers if I can stand on the chair."

"Wait, what?"

Before Percy can stop her, Annabeth has already wandered off to one of the waiters standing at the till. He doesn't seem to recognise her, something Percy isn't sure is a good or bad thing, but his face does look rather shocked when she politely asks if she's able to stand on a chair "so I can Instagram the table," she explains. "It just looks awfully beautiful."

That seems to do the trick, and, still bemused, the waiter lets her. Annabeth looks positively ecstatic as she bounces back. "He says I can do it," she says, beaming. "Okay, Percy, would you mind stepping out the frame for me? Your T-shirt doesn't match with the tablecloth."

She was _really_ not kidding when she said she had an inner Pinterest blogger.

Huffing out a laugh, Percy steps out of his chair and moves towards the wall. There are a collection of waiters and waitresses standing around just watching them. Some of them look star struck, some of them look confused and some of them look seconds away from bursting into laughter. Annabeth is completely oblivious, standing on her tiptoes on her chair and trying to find the best angle.

She's so cute Percy's heart wants to explode.

Eventually, she finds a picture she deems good enough for her Instagram feed and hops down off her chair. For the first time, she notices the small smattering of workers watching her and blushes, but one of them hurriedly calls, "Oh, don't be embarrassed! We're flattered you find our layout so nice!"

After a while, they dissolve away when they find out neither of them are going to stand on their chairs again, and Percy and Annabeth are left alone. Annabeth tucks her phone in her pocket and smiles, a little sheepishly. "Sorry about that," she says. "I just had to."

"No problem," Percy says. "We all get those aesthetic urges."

"You don't," Annabeth points out. "Your Instagram is an utter mess."

Percy swats at her with a napkin.

All in all, the date goes pretty well. Percy has never been so happy before in his life.

(And the pizza is divine, too, so Annabeth leaves with a kiss on his cheek and the promise of another date still ringing in his ears. He feels like he might die.)

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **i was not expecting this chapter to be as long as it did but it was actually just shy of 5k words as a thank you for 100 REVIEWS! isn't that nuts? we were only on eight chapters and we already got 115 reviews this is so surreal i can't believe it**

 **you guys are all the reason why we reached this mark so thank you all so so so much! as tradition what i do is every 100 reviews i do a big thank-you to everyone who has reviewed so voila here we are my beans i love you allll xx**

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 **I'm super duper sorry if I missed anyone but thanks to everyone who's reviewed to make this happen i love you all my peanuts and i shall see you next Saturday! byee xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

"Six months since I went away  
And now you're saying everything has changed  
But tomorrow I'll be coming back to you"

\- Close As Strangers, 5 Seconds Of Summer

* * *

 **Annabeth Chase and Demigods Frontman Percy Jackson dating?**

 _Yesterday, two of the hottest young celebs at the moment sparked dating rumours when photos leaked online of them having an afternoon out. They were both decked out in large black clothing, as trying to disguise themselves, and paparazzi pictures show them having a picnic at a park and then going for pizza at_ Frederico's _. Chase even posted a picture of the meal on her Instagram, captioning it "the frightened look of the staff when i asked if i could stand on a chair was completely worth how brilliant this picture came out (percy would have been in it but his shirt didn't fit the colour scheme)"._

 _This isn't the first two have made headlines about their apparent love life. The first was the infamous fall at the TCAs, after fans had been quick to notice that Jackson had helped Chase up and made sure she was okay and also that mere minutes after she had taken her tumble he fell down the stairs of the stage, and the second was at a concert when Jackson had dedicated a song "Apologise" to someone he claimed was "a cow and [you] overreacted but [you're] also pretty cool", which many fans speculate to be Chase. Then there was also the fan Q &A Jackson's band The Demigods held at a recent concert in Michigan, where a fan asked, "How do you know Annabeth Chase?" and Jackson had taken it upon himself to answer. _

_We have no other reason to believe these two are dating but we can sure hope they are._

* * *

Okay, so maybe they're running a _little_ late.

It's honestly not a big deal. Percy doesn't know why Thalia is flapping so much. He considers telling her to stop getting her knickers in a twist before realizing that if he did she'd probably get her knickers and twist them right around his throat, so instead he decides to keep quiet.

It's probably for the better. Percy saw Thalia's knickers this morning and he's pretty sure they had Care Bears on them but with Thalia even Care Bears can be terrifying.

"This is _ridiculous_ ," she seethes. "You _promised_ me, _promised_ , that after the Teen Choices you wouldn't stay watching Netflix until five minutes before the time we're meant to leave, and now, when we have maybe the biggest interview of our lives, you do just that?"

"We weren't watching Netflix," Nico says crossly, wriggling his socks on. The van takes a particularly fantastic lurch and he slams into the door, head-first. "Ah, dammit. We were _actually_ getting our clothes ready."

"For half an hour?" Thalia demands.

"Percy was having a crisis," Nico says. "He couldn't decide between blue or black jeans."

"Are you _serious_?"

Percy pouts a little, because he's not necessarily wrong but also they had blood sworn they wouldn't tell Thalia that and now he just went and broke the blood swear and Percy's not quite sure what the rules are for that sort of thing but he reckons it's something serious. Nico should sleep with one eye open, or it'll be _his_ blood. "It only took a few minutes," he says. "And anyway, it was a good decision."

Thalia scowls down at his legs. Her fire seems to be gone, because there's nothing left to do now but pray the traffic isn't atrocious, but because she's always been extraordinarily petty she mutters, "You should have gone with the blue."

Percy rolls his eyes. He knows the black jeans were a win. He even sent a picture of them to Annabeth, who had approved.

( **Annabeth** : should i be worried that this isn't the first time you've sent me a random picture of a body part

 **Percy** : the black jeans work right

 **Annabeth** : what was the other option

 **Percy** : blue

 **Annabeth** : ...try the blue on for a sec

 **Percy** : ANNABETH)

"Are we nearly there, Argus?" Thalia calls tensely to the driver.

He gives her a thumbs-up.

"Good." She settles back against her seat, her leg jittering slightly. "God, if we're late..."

"We won't be," Nico promises. "We're so early I'm getting changed in this car."

"You're getting changed in the car because we're so late."

"Tomato, tomahto." The car lurches again and Nico hits his head on the window. "Ah, crap, Argus, can you warn me?"

"You deserved that," Thalia mutters darkly.

The rest of the drive goes smoothly. Thank heavens, the traffic isn't awful, so they make it there only a few minutes late as opposed to half an hour, which was how late they had left (listen, the jeans matter was important; if what Thalia said was true and this was going to be one of their biggest interviews to date then he had to look good for it, didn't he?). Argus drops them off at the front and then drives off to find parking, and Thalia tears down the road to the office block where their interview is taking place. Percy jogs after her, and, a few feet behind him, lags Nico.

("My jeans are so tight I can barely breathe, let alone walk," Nico explains later.

Thalia eyes him. "...That's because those are _my_ jeans, Nico."

"Ah.")

They arrive just in the nick of time. Their interviewer is talking to one of their stagehands, and when they finally spill onto set his eyes land on them and his whole face brightens. "The Demigods!" he cheers, like they're champions or something. "I thought you weren't going to show up!"

Thalia shakes his hand. "Neither did I, to be honest," she admits. "These losers took a while."

"But I look good," Percy mutters to himself. "And we arrived. So whatever."

The only person who hears is Nico, who snorts.

The interviewer's name is Tantalus ("Tarantula?" Nico says) and he's one of the hardest things for Percy to look at. He's wearing a bedazzled fluorescent orange suit with gold lapels and snakes sewn along the hems of his blazer and his trousers (they're _bellbottom_ oh God) and he smells of expensive grass and chicken wings. He spits when he laughs and when Percy shakes his hand it's so sweaty Percy's hand comes away wet, and he's glancing at Thalia in a way Percy isn't massively fond of.

If this is going to be their biggest interview, Percy kind of pities all the smaller radio stations they've chatted to. There are an abundance of bubbly talk show hosts Percy could list that deserve the fame and recognition Tantalus has.

Also with much better fashion sense. Even his hair is disgusting.

Because they arrived so late, there isn't a lot of time to prep. Mr D comes bumbling in and tells Tantalus all the subjects and questions to avoid, and then the audience have come back from their toilet breaks and the cameras and lights are being switched on and then there's a countdown and suddenly, "You're live!"

"Hello!" Tantalus roars, and the front couple of rows cheer. Percy reckons they've all been arranged most excited to least, because the front rows look like they're about to give Tantalus a standing ovation and the back rows look positively bored. Percy feels quite the same. "Hello, yes, welcome! We are back today with special guests, The Demigods!"

The cameras pan to them. They all give tentative smiles and waves. Percy is pretty sure they're all equally as repulsed by Tantalus as he is, and he feels a surge of fondness. Great minds think alike, as they say.

"How are you feeling tonight?" Tantalus asks, leaning close. Somehow it ended up with Tantalus in his seat and from closest to furthest away from him being Thalia, Percy, Nico and suddenly Percy feels quite sick because he's leaning remarkably close to Thalia and she looks severely put off.

"Um," Percy says. "We're good, yeah."

"That's great!" Tantalus says, smiling extra wide. He bares all his teeth, like he's about to take a bite out of them. "Now, let's talk about the new album, shall we?"

They all nod.

"It's such a brilliant album," Tantalus gushes. "It's just– so full of _emotion_. When I listened to it I nearly cried because of how sad it all was. Was it hard to write?"

Percy opens and closes his mouth. Tantalus definitely has not listened to the album, because he doesn't think there's a sad track on there. Or at least no sad songs sad enough to make someone cry. "Um," he says, deciding not to humiliate him on live TV. "Some parts, yeah."

"Like what? What was the hardest song to write and record?"

Percy flounders and looks over to Thalia and Nico. Luckily, they get the memo. "Like Yesterday was pretty hard," Nico says.

"Why?"

Gosh, this man. Nico looks a little squandered. "Uh," he says. "Because it was– sad?"

Like Yesterday is not a sad song in the slightest. But Tantalus nods and puts a look of faux understanding on his face, as if that was the song he had expected them to mention. Thalia seems to pick up on his train of thought because when Tantalus leans forward to put a hand on Nico's knee and says, "We've all been there with break-ups" a snort escapes her that she poorly disguises as a cough.

Like Yesterday is a pretty ukulele ballad about growing up.

Clearly some of the audience members know this. Mainly the people sitting near the back. One of them actually laughs out loud.

Tantalus doesn't seem to hear this and instead barrels on. "Now, Percy," he says, changing the subject so fast Percy almost gets whiplash. He crosses one leg over the other and his trousers ride up, and Percy sees a flash of canary-yellow socks and what looks like a garish ankle tattoo of the word MOM showing through the material like a stain. "The whole world has been dying to know the answer to this question I'm about to ask."

Percy's eyebrows rise. "Oh yeah?"

He really hopes this isn't going where he thinks it's going. He quickly glances to the side to see Dionysus standing with Argus by the doors, and he doesn't look pleased. Percy had specifically asked Dionysus if he could ask all the interviewers not to mention Annabeth, because a) it's not relevant and b) he wants to have interviews that are about more than just girls, even though he would gladly talk about Annabeth 24/7 if he had the chance.

Dionysus had readily agreed. In fact, he had been the one to suggest it.

("What did I say about dating?"

"We're not dating."

"Percy."

"We're not!")

But Tantalus is grinning like he knows exactly which rules he's breaking. "What exactly is your relationship with YouTuber Annabelle Chase?"

Percy blinks. "You mean– Annabeth?"

"Of course I did!" Tantalus laughs, big and ugly, and he turns to flash the audience a wide sickening grin, like he planned to get her name wrong all along. They eat it up and roar with laughter. "So, what's the answer?"

"We're friends."

"Oh, sure."

"We are."

Tantalus nods, in that condescending way that shows he really doesn't believe Percy at all. "Right. A girl as pretty that – you need to snatch her up immediately!"

Percy forces a grin and laughs half-heartedly along with the crowd. Thalia looks unimpressed and Nico just looks uncomfortable. So much for the "biggest interview of their career". This is definitely the worst interview Percy has ever had to sit through. "Ha ha."

Tantalus beams and then moves onto Thalia and Nico. "What about you? Any action in your love lives?"

Thalia shakes her head. "Not really."

"Oh, shut up!" Tantalus pats her knee, and Percy stiffens. Thalia stares at his hand, aghast. "You're telling me no man has come to snatch you up yet?"

Thalia shakes her head stiffly. "Nope."

"I find that hard to believe. You're downright _edible_!"

Percy's hand twitches. Thalia gives Tantalus a look so cold it could freeze the Atlantic over – twice – but he is oblivious, giggling along with the crowd, like what he said was hilarious and not creepy as hell. "Yes, well," she says coldly. "Maybe I don't want a man."

"Right," Tantalus says, with another one of those looks. He gives the audience a cheeky smile, like he's breaking the forth wall and the rest of the characters are oblivious to what he's saying. "Women, these days. First Annabeth and now Thalia! Men, make sure to grab onto a woman tight, eh?"

The crowd laughs, but to Percy's relief some people look a bit uncomfortable.

Thalia's hand tightens. "How about we all just treat women with respect."

Tantalus laughs. "Yes, of course! But I will say, my dear, the playing hard-to-get only works for so long." He gives Percy a wink. "I say you sweep that Annabeth girl right off her feet, Jackson. She's a pretty one. Girls like her don't come around often. And hey." He shrugs with a mischievous smirk. "If you don't grab her I might have to instead."

Percy stares at him.

This seems to be all too much for Thalia. She stands up and takes her microphone pack off. "Right, I'm done," she says. "I'm not going to sit through this."

The crowd falls silent.

Dionysus steps forward from the side, his eyes wide. Nico stands up too. He seems unsure of whether to follow or stop her.

Tantalus looks completely bemused and laughs nervously. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Annabeth is nineteen years old," Thalia says firmly. "And so am I. You are forty. Don't you ever, ever, ever think about even breathing around either of us ever again, you perverted _creep_."

Tantalus begins to look scared. He glances to the side, where the cameras are, and makes a motion across his neck, telling them to stop rolling, and then he looks back at Thalia. "Listen, my dear, this is all a big misunderstanding," he tries, but Thalia shakes her head.

"I'm leaving," she says. She starts picking her way down the stairs. "I'm not going to sit here and let me and my friend be talked about like this any longer."

She storms out the studio. Dionysus groans and chases after her.

The audience shifts, like they're not sure if this is all staged. Tantalus looks absolutely mortified. _Good_ , Percy thinks sagely. _If you're going to talk about my potential future girlfriend like she's a piece of meat then we're going to humiliate you on TV._

Nico is wrestling his microphone pack off. He steps out of it and then scurries down the stairs too, following Thalia and Dionysus out the double doors. It's just Percy left, and Tantalus is looking at him desperately, like he's hoping Percy will save what's left of this disaster of an interview. Percy shuffles awkwardly, and then says, "Your suit is really ugly."

He runs out quickly before Tantalus can tell him that he should have worn blue jeans. He realises a few feet into the hallway that he forgot to take his microphone pack off, so, because he's infinitely petty, he darts into the nearest bathroom, rips it off and shoves it in one of the toilets.

He meets the rest of his band outside in the parking lot by their van. Thalia is leaning against it with her arms folded and cool expression on her face, and Mr D looks absolutely furious.

"Why would you do that?" he explodes.

"Did you hear what he was saying?" Thalia demands. "About me, about _Annabeth_? I wasn't going to sit there and pretend that that was okay!"

"You probably just ruined your career!"

"We ruined _his_ , and rightly so! Why are you angry at me, I did the right thing! He's a creep! He's _twenty years_ older than me! I wasn't gonna let him hit on me like that!"

"Thalia – "

"It's done, anyway," Percy says. "Just leave it, we can't change that."

"Yes, we can," Mr D says sagely. "We'll go in there, tell them to scrap the interview and not post it. We'll bribe the audience members to keep quiet."

"Actually." Nico looks a little sheepish. "All of it got broadcasted on live television."

Mr D practically explodes. "I'm _sorry_?"

"I'm not sorry," Thalia says harshly. "That scumbag deserved it. Mr D, you can't expect me to sit there and keep quiet when he was saying such hideous things about Annabeth!"

"Annabeth this, Annabeth that!" Mr D shouts. "That girl is causing you nothing but _trouble_!"

"He was talking about Thalia, too!" Nico cries. "Did you not here what he said? He called her edible. _Edible_. A _forty-year-old man_."

Finally, _finally_ , Mr D seems to register how creepy the entire ordeal was. He deflates, but only a little. "Not a word," he spits, "about this. Anywhere. If we play it right we can paint you as heroes, speaking out against sexual harassment." (Not that, you know, that was the entire point of what just happened or whatever.) "But if you ever, ever pull a stunt like this again, you're all fired."

He issues this threat about once a week. They all roll their eyes.

"I'm serious," Mr D says. "This could ruin you. Do not speak a word of this anywhere – _especially_ not on social media."

* * *

 **percyjackson** : be this a lesson to you younglings

 **percyjackson** : dont be a creep and a perve, because if you are you WILL be humiliated and live tv and you WILL get your career ruined

 **percyjackson** : (also no he didn't listen to the album in case any of you were wondering)

He also posts a link to the livestream, just to make sure.

(Mr D can suck it.)

* * *

Annabeth calls him later that night.

They're all settling into their bunks, ready for the bus to take them to another state, when Percy's phone goes off. Nico mumbles nonsensically about how difficult it is to get sleep around here and Thalia tells him to "do it in the other room for heaven's _sake_ , Jackson" so Percy diligently listens and slips into the back room before answering the call.

It's dark in here. The only light is from Percy's phone and the flash of street lamps every few seconds through the windows, and with a small smile Percy curls onto one of the sofas and pulls a thin blanket over his shoulders.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi," Annabeth says. Her voice is soft. "I saw the interview."

Annabeth always cuts to the chase. Percy smiles wryly at the memory of today's disastrous events. "Ah."

"That was– really sweet of you. What you did."

"I didn't do anything."

"I read your Twitter rant."

Oh. "That's a little embarrassing."

"It was sweet."

"I just– got passionate. He was so creepy. I saw him look at Thalia before the interview and I– felt so _sick_. He wasn't even meant to bring you up. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I'm glad you stood up to him."

"I told him his suit was ugly."

Annabeth laughs a little. "God, wasn't it?"

"It was even worse in person."

"No wonder you stormed out."

Percy smiles into the receiver. The phone line crackles with static. "I'm sorry again," he says. "For roping you into it all."

"It's fine. Bet the Percabeth shippers are going to have a field day."

"Annabeth."

"Sorry." She sighs. "I just – I felt really gross when I watched that. I saw you all did too. It was making me feel all icky and dirty when he talked about me like that. I was glad that Thalia intervened. It made me feel a bit better."

"If it's any solace, I'm pretty sure we just ripped his career to shreds."

"Good." Annabeth sighs into the reciever. "The way he just touched Thalia made me so uncomfortable I can't even tell you. Can't imagine how she felt."

"Thalia is unbothered. A bit ruffled, I'd reckon, but she's quite tough. All in a day's work for her, I guess. She felt a bit horrid at the beginning, I saw her wriggle a bit in the car on the way back, but she's all good now. I think she's just mainly pleased about how much he's getting online."

"He deserves it."

"I also shoved one of his microphone packs into a urinal."

Annabeth gasps out a laugh. "You did not."

"That one was for you. The suit insult was for Thalia."

"I can't believe you shoved a microphone pack into a toilet in my honour."

"What can I say, I'm a gentleman like that."

Annabeth hums. There's a small pause, and Percy watches the shadows run across the back wall.

"When are you getting back to LA?" she asks.

"Two months."

"Two months."

"Why?"

"I think I owe you a date."

Percy is a little embarrassed by the way he so eagerly sits up. "Really?"

"You defended my honour today against a pervy old man, it's the least I can do."

Percy smiles. "I'll wine and dine you, Chase."

"I'm looking forward to it. Now, get some sleep, rockstar. You've got a show tomorrow."

"Two months."

"Two months."

* * *

 **A/N hello my loves!**

 **believe it or not this chapter was actually meant to be a nice fluffy percabeth chapter but welp things happen and it turned into this sorry pallllls**

 **also a sidenote the song above (close as strangers by 5sos) is quite a good song about the whole percy's on tour/annabeth's not relationship shebang so if any of you felt like getting in the mood for some angsty separated percabeth i'd suggest that**

 **(ALSO TAYLOR SWIFTS NEW ALBUM DROPPED im cheap so im waiting for next Friday when it's being released on spotify and i've heard veryyyy mixed reviews about the whole thing but im excited nonetheless because even lwymmd gets bearable after a few listens so if it's as bad as some people have said then oh well but if its also as good as some people have been saying im PUMPED because WOO TAYLOR MUSIC)**

 **anyway**

 **thank you all so so so much for 138 reviews! im still a little in shock that we reached 100 before chapter 10 so this is all very wonderful i love u all my babes**

 **anyway! as always i do hope you enjoyed whatever this chapter was! please tell me your thoughts and i shall see you next Saturday xx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

"Oh, where are your manners? You need some time?  
Let's swap chests today, it might help you decide"

\- Would You Be So Kind, dodie

* * *

Percy shows up at Annabeth's house at four fifty nine.

So what if he's a little eager, all right. _So_ _what_. He's been waiting for this date for months now, and now the opportunity is so close he can taste it. Annabeth is insanely pretty and funny and she has a stupid laugh and three adorable animals and she's literally on the other side of the door with food and movies, and that's three of Percy's favourite things in the whole world, really, so can you even blame him.

He checks his phone, watches as the time switches to five o'clock, and then knocks on the door.

There's a muffled, "Coming!" and then almost immediately after a crash and a screech of alarm. A dog barks and Annabeth yells something that sounds suspiciously like, "Bradley you FOOL!" and then a timid mewl. A few seconds pass and then the door opens to reveal a slightly-lopsided Annabeth, wearing a sweater that shows a lot of her collarbones and a pair of leggings covered in cat hair.

Percy blinks. He doesn't want to admit it but he's hopelessly endeared. "Well, hi."

"Hi." Annabeth smiles, slightly bashfully. "Um. Sorry about all this."

"No problem." Subconsciously, Percy's eyes drift over Annabeth's shoulder and then he catches sight of something that makes him do a double take. "Did he break a mirror?"

Annabeth doesn't even have to turn around. Her cheeks flush red. "I probably should have learnt not to put breakable things on top of drawers."

Percy's eyes travel down to her hands. "Annabeth, oh God, you're _bleeding_."

"I tried to clear it up." She shrugs a little. "You know. It's not very romantic for you to walk in with one of my mirrors smashed on the ground."

"Annabeth, you _goose_." Percy rolls his eyes and pushes his way through the door, closing it behind him. "Here, let me do this for you. You wash your hands and bandage yourself up."

Annabeth obediently lets herself be herded upstairs. She's smiling a little awkwardly, but she's also got gratitude somewhere deep in her expression. "I'm so sorry," she says again. "This is meant to be a date and now you're fussing because I accidentally hurt myself–"

"Thalia was on the roller derby team in high school," Percy says. "Trust me, I've learnt to patch people up in no time. Do you have any iodine or anything?"

"I don't think so."

"That's okay, just rinse it with cold water. Now shoo, or I'll literally drag you upstairs."

Annabeth rolls her eyes just she troops upstairs nonetheless. Percy nods, quite pleased with himself, and then squats next to the shards of her broken mirror. Guiltily, Bradley lurks behind the dresser.

"You can't do that to your mama, you know," Percy tells him. "She's hurt herself, you know."

Bradley mewls and rubs his head apologetically against Percy's knee.

"Yeah, I know, bud. Still. Maybe just avoid the glass items next time, okay?"

Percy entertains the idea that Bradley can actually understand him and when he pads off towards the kitchen he's actually going to brood on his actions, so ignoring all sense of normality he nods again, pretty satisfied. He then starts to pick up the glass pieces from the floor, making sure not to cut himself.

"Are you talking to my animals now?" Annabeth asks, amused, coming down the stairs. Her left hand has been covered in a variety of Winnie The Pooh plasters and he rolls his eyes because of course Annabeth has Winnie The Pooh plasters.

"I had to give him a little telling off," Percy says. "To make sure he didn't injure his mama anymore."

"Well, that's very thoughtful of you." She comes down the stairs and plops herself down on the floor next to where he's squatting. Percy almost tells her off because the last time she was this close to glass she nearly sliced her entire hand up but also the warmth of her body next to his is too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"How's your hand?" he asks.

"Good, I think. I don't think I quite realised how bad it was. I cut myself up quite a bit."

"Maybe that's a lesson that you shouldn't be around sharp items."

"That's not a wholly bad idea," Annabeth says honestly, choosing to ignore the light teasing. "The last time I was around something this pointy, aside from my darling animals, of course, it was those dreaded heels from the TCAs. And look what happened."

"I feel like you're always injured."

"That's true," Annabeth says. "Around Christmas is even worse. I swear, it's like, out to get me."

"Oh?" Percy scoops up the last of the glass and clambers ungracefully to his feet to deposit in the bin in the kitchen. Annabeth patters after him. "And why is that?"

"Every year, I always end up breaking something. It's ridiculous. Like, two years ago, Piper decided to be unnecessary and get a giant Christmas tree, up to our ceiling. And then I was trying to wrap Christmas lights around it but then I accidentally spilled my hot chocolate on the power socket and electrocuted myself really badly." She holds up her hand, her right one, and points to a small egg-shaped scar at the bottom of her palm that's a shade lighter than the rest of her skin. "You see that? That's where I was holding the lights in my hand when it went crazy. Then the year after that, so last year, we got a smaller tree, so accidents like that wouldn't happen, and when I was trying to put the star on top of the tree I fell off my chair and broke my leg."

The only story that surprises Percy is the one about the lights, because he's an embarrassing stalker who had watched her Christmas videos about eight times each and that was a story she hadn't yet shared online, but he nods like this is all news.

"Wow," he says. "You're a real klutz."

Annabeth scowls at him and perches herself on one of her kitchen stools. "I prefer the term 'targeted by fate'."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Percy wanders over to her fridge and peers into it. "Fancy a drink?"

"I'd love one."

He pulls out a bottle of apple juice (because he's classy and they're _underage_ ) (oh yeah he regards the law) and two plastic cups from the cupboard next to the fridge. He chucks them at Annabeth, who expertly catches the first one and then drops the second, and pads back over to the island, coming around opposite her and sitting down on the chair.

"So," Percy says to the empty chair across from him. "What's the plan?"

Annabeth resurfaces from under the counter with the cup in hand. "Well," she says. "I was thinking dinner and a movie. Or several. Depending on your stance on movies."

"I love movies."

"Oh, thank heavens, I was afraid you didn't and then I'd have to break up with you." Annabeth pours herself a glass and then pours Percy one, too. "Thoughts on spaghetti bolognaise?"

"One of the favourites."

"Marvellous." Annabeth takes a sip of her drink, and then pushes herself off her chair. "Well, go and wash up. I'll get everything ready."

Percy pauses. "Wait, we're cooking it _now_?"

"Well, of course. It takes at least forty minutes."

" _Forty minutes_? What is your pasta made of, metal?"

"We're _making_ the pasta, that's why it takes so long. Now, go and wash your hands. I've just washed mine so it's fine. Do you want an apron or will you survive?"

"Uh." Percy glances down at his T-shirt and jeans. "I think I'll be okay."

"All right, then. You know where the bathroom is, right? Second door on the left?"

"Yep." Percy slides off the chair and patters off towards the bathroom. Already, he can hear Annabeth clanging around; as soon as he rounds the doorframe there's a metallic crash, like she just dropped a pan, and she shouts out, "Nothing happened!" almost immediately afterwards. He rolls his eyes and heads in the bathroom, coming to wash his hands, and then dries them on his jeans.

He heads back into the kitchen. Annabeth has just cleared the island of everything and has all her ingredients propped up in the middle, and when he walks in she looks up and beams at him. "All good?"

He gives her a thumbs-up and rounds the counter. "Why is there so much?"

"We're making a double batch," Annabeth explains. "I always get a little frenzied over spaghetti bolognaise and Piper will want some later when she comes home, so we can just freeze half of it and leave it in the fridge for her to boil later." She pulls her hair back into a ponytail and then plants her hands firmly on the counter. "Let's get going, then."

Now, here's the thing. Percy wouldn't consider himself a bad cook, by any form. In fact, he thinks he's actually quite good. He can make a mean pizza ("Percy, taking the plastic off a pizza and putting it in the oven doesn't _count_ as cooking" "shut up yes it does") and he's been told his cookies are to die for (Mom's recipe. It's a family classic). But pasta is a whole new ball game completely.

"This is utterly impossible," Percy declares not two minutes in. He stares at the lumps of flour and eggs he's spread over the counter. "What is this even meant to be?"

Annabeth looks over and almost bursts out laughing. "My God, Percy, how have you already messed up this badly?"

Of course hers is perfect. She's got a beautiful ball of dough perched in front of her. Percy's just looks like a landslide of vomit.

"Here." Annabeth abandons hers and comes around to his. "This is fine, we can fix this."

"We really can't, Annabeth, do you _see_ what this is."

Annabeth ignores her and sticks her hands in Percy's– experiment. She rolls her eyes. "You haven't even mixed it together, that's why it looks so awful."

"I'm– meant to touch it?"

"Well, of course. You need to knead the flour and eggs so they combine and eventually it'll become a ball, like mean."

Percy frowns tentatively at the mixture. "Can– you do it?"

"You're going to have to get your hands messy, rockstar. Come on, stop being such a celebrity."

"I _am_ a celebrity," Percy mumbles childishly, but nonetheless with extreme reluctance he shoves his hands in his whatever-it-is and slowly begins to mix. Annabeth laughs at his face, a twinkly laugh that almost makes up for the sliminess on his hands.

They move onto the next step, which is rolling out the balls on the tabletop. Annabeth grabs a rolling pin and takes a war stance. She then tries to roll it out. It's quite funny to watch, to be honest. Annabeth is not a short woman – she's actually pretty tall – but it's almost comical to watch her stick her elbows out and push all her weight onto a ball of dough. She may be tall but she lacks strength.

Suppressing a smile, Percy asks, "Need a hand?"

"Not in the slightest," Annabeth says through gritted teeth.

Percy just shrugs and leaves her to her own devices. He finishes mixing his ingredients and grabs another rolling pin. Just to be an arsehole about the whole thing, he flexes his muscles and then, with a subtle glance Annabeth's way, just to make sure she's watching, he rolls out his dough _effortlessly_.

Annabeth scowls and pushes her rolling pin his way. "I hate you."

"Oh, babe." Percy winks at her and makes a start on hers. "We both know that's far from the truth."

He feels a flame of triumph in his chest when he sees her cheeks pink up.

As it turns out, anyway, his pasta ends up being hideous. Annabeth had suggested sprinkling a little water over it if it wasn't sticking together well enough, and because Percy is an absolute imbecile he had accidentally poured an entire glass of water over it and make it so wet it had the consistency of damp sand as opposed to, well, good dough.

"Oh, my," Annabeth says. "That– didn't go well."

"You don't say."

"We'll just eat mine," she says. "Wrap up yours and bung it in the fridge, Piper can have it later."

Percy laughs.

They put Annabeth's perfect pasta sheet through a thin cutting roller. Percy is given very strict instructions to hold the pasta firmly and steadily above the machine whilst Annabeth turns the crank ("if you mess this up we'll have lumpy pasta and that's not good at all"). He won't lie, when it starts coming out in spaghetti strips along the bottom, he does fill with childlike joy. He's never made pasta like this before, and even though it isn't even his dough that they're using it still makes him feel all sorts of excited.

After the entire sheet has been put through, Annabeth tapes chopsticks to the side of the counter and drapes the spaghetti over them. "We need to try them out," she explains. "Then we'll boil them and eat them."

"What was the point of actually making the pasta, may I ask?" Percy asks. "Like, does it taste any different to store-bought pasta?"

"Not really," Annabeth says. "But it's fun to do."

" _Fun_ is a very subjective term."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Oh, shut up." She heads over to her deserted drink and pours herself another cup of apple juice. She offers Percy the bottle. "Want any more?"

"I'm good, thanks." Percy takes a seat on one of the stools. Annabeth opts to remain standing, leaning against the counter. "So, what now? Do we go kill a cow to get the bolognaise?"

"Hysterical, honestly." Annabeth dances over to the fridge and pulls out a package of mince meat. "You're going to be making this for me. You've made bolognaise before, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"Grand. The jar of tomato sauce is in the cupboard above your head – add that once the meat starts browning. I'll start boiling the water for the pasta."

They work together like a well-oiled machine. Percy is almost surprised at how domestic it all feels and he absolutely loves it. It's so natural, because when he was petsitting he spent enough time scoping out the kitchen for food he knows where everything is and the way they move is so fluid, it's a bit like a dance. Annabeth keeps putting all sorts of obscure spices and powders into his hands to put into the sauce, and frankly he's a little afraid that there's going to a chemical reaction or that it's going to turn radioactive with how much of each she's putting it, but she insists it'll taste just fine. Sure enough, after only seconds, the kitchen fills with a heavenly smell.

"Wow," Percy says. "That smells great."

Annabeth preens. "Told you so."

Soon, the food is finished. Annabeth mixes the sauce and pasta together and starts lathering it onto two plates. "How much do you like?"

"A lot."

"Awesome, me too." She heaps a portion onto Percy's plate and then another for herself, and then beams at him. "Shall we?"

They troop into the living room with their plates laden. Socks is taking a nap directly in the middle of the sofa, but Annabeth is completely undeterred. She balances her plate in one hand and picks him up in the other, collapsing down and then resting him next to her. Socks snoozes on, unmoved.

Percy tentatively perches next to her. Almost as soon as he sits down, Ron bounds out of nowhere and leaps onto the sofa, snuggling under Percy's arm. Percy laughs nervously afraid he's going to spill spaghetti bolognaise all over Annabeth's floor, but thankfully any and all disasters are averted when Ron settles against his thigh. He scratches his head.

"What movie do you want to watch?" he asks.

"I'm so glad you asked." Annabeth puts her plate on the coffee table and picks up a stack of DVDs that Percy hadn't noticed until now. "Here are the options. Unless you hate all of them in which case I have Netflix and also iTunes."

Percy flicks through the DVDs. Annabeth watches him nervously. "Why do you still have DVDs?"

"I'm an old soul."

Percy snorts and keeps looking through the selection. He pauses when he reaches one he is hardly surprised to see. "The Notebook," he says, deadpan. "Wow."

"The Notebook is a fantastic movie."

"I'm sure it is." Percy looks at the next one and frowns. "Pride And Prejudice? What's that?"

"You haven't watched Pride And Prejudice?"

Percy shakes his head.

"Okay, that's what we're watching. No buts." Annabeth clambers off the sofa and takes the case out of his hands. "It's such a beautiful film. I think you'll like it. I hope you will, in any case. Are you a fan of, like, olden-day movies?"

Percy wrinkles his nose. "Not particularly."

"I'll make you a believer," Annabeth promises, and the flush in her cheeks and earnestness in her voice tells Percy that she just might. "It's got such a wonderful story, and Keira Knightley is ever so good in it. And if you hate it within the first ten minutes, just tell me, and we'll switch it off and watch, like, Finding Nemo or something."

"Okay."

She switches on the TV and slides the DVD into the player, padding back to the sofa and settling into Percy's side. Percy's heart catches in his throat when he feels her lean her head on his shoulder but he doesn't say anything, just shovels spaghetti into his mouth and prays she can't hear the thump of his pulse.

The movie starts. It's nearing winter so the sky darkens quickly, and by the times they're half an hour the room is completely black, lit up by only the television screen. Percy can't help it, he really can't, but he gets quickly sucked into the movie, and he frankly hates himself for it. He's meant to be a man, dammit, and not enjoy an eighteen-century rom-com, but he really does. When the movie passes the hour mark, both of their plates are on the floor, and Annabeth is properly leaning against him now. Socks is draped over Annabeth's chest like a blanket and Ron has long since fallen asleep under Percy's armpit.

It's so domestic and natural Percy almost wants to cry.

The tears actually do start to fall minutes later, when Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are together in the rain. Percy swallows the lump in his throat and prays to every god out there that he doesn't actually cry, because Annabeth will never let him live it down if he does, but a few traitorous tears slip out. He sniffles as subtly as he can, but because Annabeth is practically plastered to him she hears it.

She adjusts herself. In the dark, her wide grey eyes look like they're glowing. "Are you crying?" she whispers.

Percy wipes his nose. "No."

She laughs softly. "You so are."

"You are too, don't laugh at me."

Annabeth smiles at him. She is crying, too, but she's completely unashamed. The tears only make her eyes glitter even more than they already do. "You're such a loser."

"Watch the movie, Chase."

She giggles a little and leans her head back on his shoulder.

The movie ends with a kiss. Percy has cried a lot more than he cares to admit because he's embarrassing like that, and he tries to subtly wipe his tears away with his sleeve. Annabeth's eyes are also wet, but she's smiling, and when the credits start rolling on screen she sits up and stares at him, her eyes shiny and wide and expectant.

"So," she says, a little nervously. "Did you like it?"

For some reason, in that moment, all Percy can do is stare at her. She's got freckles across her nose and a birthmark on her collarbone, and there's a siren going off in the back of his head screaming _do you like it do you like it do you like_ me.

Of course he likes her. How can he not? She's like a magnet, drawing him and everyone else in. Thalia is smitten with her, and Nico absolutely adores her, and Percy is _head over heels in love with her_ dammit. She's got three beautiful animals and every single Harry Potter book in her cabinet, and she can't catch to save her life, and she wears mismatching socks and bites her nails and likes salted pistachios and can cram thirty-two Maltesers in her mouth at once.

Percy looks at her face, at all of it. He feels Ron next to him and sees Socks on his back, balanced precariously on her lap. Their plates are together on the table and the room is still dark, lit up only by the TV screen.

She has never looked so beautiful.

 _Do you like me?_

Instead of answering, Percy leans upwards and kisses her.

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **so the ending isn't fabulous but hey at least we got a percabeth kiss! that's cool! i wasn't actually going to make them kiss now but i was literally just watching pride and prejudice clips on youtube and i got all yucky and sentimental and so voila the kiss is here woo**

 **also v off topic but omg guys reputation is such a good ALBUmM (im not gonna go into a rant like i want to because i doubt many of you care but wow i was so surprised i thought it was gonna be kinda bad because of what people told me but it was so good! favourites definitely have to be dancing with our hands tied, getaway car, new year's day, this is why we can't have nice things and i did something bad wow it's just so good i definitely recommend)**

 **anyway**

 **thank you guys so so much for 157 reviews! that's literally insane honestly i love you all so so dearly (also allineedisabook your review almost made me tear up thank u xx) so thank you for being so great i love you guys xx**

 **also my loves quick book recommendation but there is a book series called the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes and holy crap it is so good i read it a while back but i reread the series this week and i forgot how insane it is if you guys like teenagers solving serial killer mysteries that is the BOOK FOR YOU it's great go chekc it out**

 **this an has been all over the place whoops**

 **anyway! thank you all so much for your continued support i love you all dearly! i hoope you enjoyed and please tell me what you thought and i shall see you all next week! bye! x**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

"I'm not gonna let you change my mind  
Till you show me what this life is for"

\- Round And Round, Imagine Dragons

* * *

Annabeth doesn't kiss him back.

Percy separates from her as soon as he realises. Annabeth is sitting as still as a corpse on the sofa, her mouth slightly parted, and her eyes as wide as saucers. Across the room, Bradley stares at him, and as Percy looks at Annabeth he suddenly realises what a massive mistake he made.

"Annabeth–" he says desperately.

Annabeth stands up uncertainly. Her legs seem to have gone all wobbly beneath her, because she has to hold onto the side of the sofa for support. Normally Percy would be crowing, because it's not everyday your kisses are so good they render people partially paralysed, but Annabeth looks like she's just seen a ghost and Percy feels just a little bit sick because he feels like he might just have ruined absolutely everything.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry," Percy says too.

She says it again and then she says it again, and then she shakes her head. "I..."

Percy stands. "I should go."

Annabeth stares at him. "No," she says, but there's no conviction in her voice.

"I should go. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Percy stands up. Ron barks mournfully from where he's jostled out of his sleep. Annabeth still looks shocked. Socks snoozes on.

"I should go," he says again, and then he heads out the room even though it feels like he's ripping himself in half. He might be, actually. In some religions they believe that once you fall in love your souls intertwine. He might believe it now too. Something in his heart aches to leave her behind, but she didn't want the kiss and he did it anyway and now he's got to go before he accidentally throws even more down the rabbit hole.

"Percy."

He turns around. Annabeth is standing in the doorway of the living room. Nothing has changed from three hours ago, because she's still wearing a sweater that shows a lot of her collarbones and leggings covered in cat hair but she's got smudgy traces of flour down her front and her eyes are wide and maybe a little bit wet, and Percy hopes it's still from the movie but knows it's probably not. The remnants of their evening together is still all over her, and it's all over him, too, because he's got flecks of pasta sauce on his shirt and dog hair on his jeans and his cheeks have become stickily tacky from the tears of the movie, but if Annabeth didn't want it then he has to go and wash it all off.

"I can't," he says. "Not if you don't feel the same."

Annabeth opens and closes her mouth. She can't respond.

It's a good thing, too, because he doesn't he can either.

He shrugs with one shoulder, half-hearted, and then finishes lacing up his shoes. Ron snuffles from where he's stood by Annabeth's ankles but Percy ignores him and steps out the door. He thinks Annabeth might have said, "but I do," but he doesn't hear it because the door slam swallows it up.

* * *

Nico's got a boy around when Percy arrives home.

Percy doesn't think it's anything serious, or at least tonight isn't, because Thalia is there, too, in the kitchen, on her phone. She's got a half-finished plate of what looks like pizza, and normally Percy would waltz in and steal it right off her plate, but he doesn't really feel like it tonight. Nico and his boy are in the living room, eating one of Nico's famous dishes (tagliatelle with prawns – Percy's slightly jealous) and in avid discussion about something. From a distance, Percy supposes it could be perceived as a business meeting, but there's also a candle there somewhere, so he kind of doubts it.

He decides not to interrupt them (better one date ruined than two) and instead skulks silently into the kitchen. Sulkily, he slides onto one of the ridiculously high bar stools, and Thalia looks up in mild surprise.

"Oh," she says. "You're back early."

"Yeah."

"Didn't even hear you come in."

"They call me Slippery." Percy looks sadly down at her pizza. On second thoughts.

Thalia shrugs and puts her phone down, resting her chin in her hands. "So," she says. "What's got you all gloomy, then? I thought you were out canoodling with Annabeth."

Percy takes her pizza and takes a dejected bite out of it. "I was."

"What happened?"

Percy sighs and puts the pizza down. "I don't know," he says pathetically.

"You're gonna have to give me more than that, Perce."

He scrubs a hand across his face. "I kissed her, all right?"

Thalia sits up. "You _kissed_? Why– Percy, that's _great_ , why are you sad?"

"Because." Percy buries his face in his hands. "She didn't kiss me back."

"And that's why you're unhappy?"

"It's not just that. It's– you didn't see her face afterwards. It was like I had massively invaded her privacy, like in a really big way. It was like she didn't even like me in that way. I felt like one of those douches who don't believe in the friendzone and just keep _going_ for it, even if the girl tells them no. Do – do you know how bad that feels?"

"But– she _does_ like you!"

"Then why didn't she kiss me back?"

That stumps her. She stares at Percy, her electric eyes confused and soft.

"Whatever." Percy shakes his head and takes another bite of her pizza. Thalia seems so dazed she doesn't even care. "Who's Nico's friend?"

"He's called Will," Thalia says, distracted. "The new stylist."

"And why is he here?"

"That's what I asked, too. Apparently it's a business meeting, but I don't know how much business can be discussed between the stylist and the person you're styling, especially when we don't have any big events coming up that I'm aware of. I'm pretty Nico likes him, though, so I just left them be. If they start snogging, though, I'll boot them back to Will's place. I don't want to hear any of that."

"Ah." Percy takes another bite. "Well. At least one of us has a successful love life."

"I really doubt you messed up as much as you thought you did."

"You weren't there. Like, what other reason would she not kiss me back for? Face it, Thals. I've ruined everything."

"You need to think about it from her perspective," Thalia tries. "She literally referred to them as dates. Maybe something happened – "

"She was fine for the rest of the night. It was just when I kissed her." Percy sighs and stands up, throwing the pizza crust back on Thalia's plate. She stares at it, like it will reveal all the answers. "I'm gonna go to bed."

Thalia opens her mouth, as if to argue, and then she shuts it. She gives Percy a soft smile and then reaches out to squeeze his hand. "Goodnight," she says. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Percy leaves the kitchen with a slump in his step and Annabeth's wide-eyed stare imprinted on his mind. He passes the living room and sees Nico and Will laughing together over their beers, sitting a little too close to be just friends, let alone business associates, and somewhere in the fuzz of his mind his heart warms a little at the sight of his cousin happy. Nico's gotten better at battling the bad days, and Percy is so proud of him for getting here all on his own, but he deserves a good steady relationship to help him along the way.

Sometimes he can be easily swept off his feet by the tide. It'll be good to have someone to pull him back to shore.

Percy tries to block out all thoughts of Annabeth and collapses in his bed. He doesn't look at his phone.

* * *

"Wait, really?"

"Whisper! He'll hear us! And yes, she did. So we need to be nice to him today. Have you got the muffins?"

There's the crinkle of plastic packaging. "Right here."

"Make some hot chocolate, too. We have a shoot today so we need to his spirits up a little so he won't look all angsty for the cover. Now, shoo."

There's the thump of footsteps on the floorboards. They're loud – too loud. Percy blearily blinks his eyes open, only to see Thalia standing by his bed in a pair of sleep shorts and T-shirt he's pretty sure belongs to him. She sees him slowly wake up, and smiles at him. She's not wearing any makeup now, and she looks strangely vulnerable without it. He can see all her freckles. It's summer now, so they're beginning to pop up like flowers on her skin.

"Oh, you're awake," she says. "Great. Shove up."

Scrubbing a hand across his face, Percy diligently shuffles slightly to the side, propping himself up on his elbows. He's still half-asleep, but Thalia speaks so fast and so elaborately he knows not two minutes talking to her will get him up and at 'em in no time.

"What's happening?" he asks blearily, rubbing one of his eyes.

"A lot," Thalia says, crossing her legs. She's perched at the end of the bed, next to him. He can feel her thighs against his calves through the blanket. "We've got a photoshoot today, so we need to be all pretty for that. But, more immediately, we've also got muffins and hot chocolate."

Percy eyes her. "Why?"

"Because we felt like muffins and hot chocolate."

"They're my favourite."

"Not everything revolves around you, Percy."

"Except today," Nico says, coming through the door with a tray of mugs. "Today revolves around you."

Thalia glares at him.

"And why does today revolve around me?"

"That's a great question," Nico says. He hands a mug to Thalia, and then one to Percy, and then takes one for himself, arranging himself on the bed too. He spills a little on the blankets but Percy ignores it. "A little birdie told me that something rather unfortunate happened last night and that you needed cheering up, so as your two favourite people in the world we decided to do the trick. So we did! Bearing treats!"

Percy rolls his eyes and sits up properly, sipping his hot chocolate. He should feel exposed, considering he's literally only in his boxers and his cousins are in clothes other than just their underwear, but the amount of times Nico has decided to take a morning stroll down the hallway means nudity no longer fazes him. "You really didn't have to do this."

"We kind of did," Thalia says. "We can't have you all mopey for the photoshoot."

"But I'm not going through a breakup or anything."

"The love of your life just bitterly rejected you," Nico says, "which is almost the same thing, so we're counting it. Besides, any occasion to have muffins and hot chocolate first thing in the morning is quite fine with me.'

Percy rolls his eyes, trying to hide the pang of his heart behind his nonchalance. He must not be very convincing, because Thalia's eyes soften and she puts her hand on top of his.

"You'll sort it out," she says firmly. "You always do."

Nico nods enthusiastically, slopping hot chocolate over the rim of his mug. Percy watches it stain his duvet but doesn't say anything because the gesture is sweet. "Yeah! Besides, you two already had your ship name trend. That basically means that you're going to be together forever."

"So did Brangelina."

"They had a long run," Nico says. "If worst comes to worst, you'll two only separate after getting married and having a bunch of kids. Which is not a terrible life."

"Mm."

"You're one to talk," Thalia points out. "Who was that kid you brought in yesterday?"

Nico suddenly goes very pink. Percy makes a mental note to give Thalia a massive hug later. She knows exactly when to change the subject. "I told you," he says pointedly, not looking at either of them in the eye. "Will. He's my new stylist."

"You've never brought any of your other stylists home before," Thalia says, amused.

"Yeah, well. He's cute. So. Yeah."

Percy actually laughs. "Is he going to be there today?"

Nico goes even pinker. "Yeah."

Thalia coos. "Aw, you're blushing."

Nico sticks his tongue out at her and defiantly flings himself off the bed. "If you're so insistent on bullying me," he says, "I suppose I'll just _leave_ , then."

"Don't," Percy says. "We haven't even started on the muffins."

Sulkily, Nico returns.

Thalia rips open the packet and sprinkles crumbs all over Percy's bed, divvying them out. She gets two, Percy gets three and Nico gets one.

("How is that fair?" Nico demands.

"I'm suffering a broken heart," Percy says.

"No you're _not_!")

They all start to eat them in contented silence. They're blueberry, Percy notices. His heart swells with affection for his cousins. He knows for a fact that Thalia despises blueberry muffins and Nico is almost certainly gluten-intolerant but they're making an effort for him and he loves them a lot.

"When do we need to be there?" he asks, his mouth full.

Thalia looks like she's about to chide him for his bad manners before realizing she's almost exactly the same. She swallows her mouthful and looks thoughtful. "One," she says. "And it's half past eleven now, so we should probably start showering and getting ready soon. Are we all finished?"

"I am," Nico says. "But Percy's not. Which may be because he has three muffins and I only got _one_."

"Hey–"

"Yes, I know, he's hurting and deserves coddling, whatever. The injustice is still there, though. I will forever remain adamant about this."

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Well, be adamant in your own time. Right now you need to shower because you reek something awful. Percy, you're next."

"Your kind words flatter me," Nico says, clambering off the bed. Crumbs fall out of his lap to the floor. "Adios, my darling cousins, I shall see you all soon."

"You're showering, not travelling to Sweden," Percy says, but Nico's already gone by the time he's spoken so he just lets out a laugh and turns back to Thalia.

She's looking at him with a weird expression on her face that doesn't suit her at all. The entire mood sobers and Percy feels his laughter die slowly.

"What?" he asks, self-conscious.

"You should text her."

"That's a terrible idea."

"Not really. Look, Jackson, there was obviously some kind of miscommunication between you two, and you need to fix it, because I am not letting my friendship be ruined with Annabeth because you're a bit insecure." She softens her voice and climbs off his bed. "Just try, Percy, okay? What's the worst that could happen?"

Annabeth hates him forever. They don't speak ever again. She exposes him online for a creep and their whole career gets ruined. He never gets his fairytale ending with her.

He shrugs.

"Text her. I'm serious." Thalia floats to the doorway. "Also, pick those crumbs off your carpet, your room is filthy."

She leaves and then Percy is alone again. He's not really, because Thalia is just outside his door and down the corridor he can hear Nico warbling Mariah Carey in the shower, and their empty mugs are clustering up his bedside table, and he _knows_ he's loved because his bandmates are just so, so thoughtful and his fans periodically send him memes throughout the day on Twitter and yell at him in caps lock about how much they're enjoying the album, but right now the most important person is Annabeth. And he thinks he may have just ruined everything.

For the first time since leaving her house last night, he picks up his phone.

There's nothing unusual going on. He's got a few texts from his mom, and the escort he had met on Hollywood Boulevard a few months back who had tried to seduce him but instead accidentally became best friends with had sent him several cake recipes he'd found online somewhere. He's been tagged in several tweets on Twitter and some people have DMed him, so he likes and responds to as many as he can.

There's nothing from Annabeth.

He checks her Instagram, just in case she posted something cryptic about him. Nothing. He finds himself scrolling through her feed nonetheless, and he pauses when he gets to the picture of the pizza parlour they had visited in Michigan. He smiles at it.

What's the worst that can happen?

He hesitates, and then exits out of Instagram and goes onto his messages. He presses on Annabeth's name, and their conversation loads. The last time they texted was Percy sending her stupid puns on the way to her house. She had sent him an indignant worm emoji in response, and for some reason he had laughed so hard at it the bus driver had asked if he was all right.

He gnaws his lip anxiously.

Oh, to the hell of it.

 **Percy** : can we talk?

He sends it and then stares at it in horror. It looks too severe just there by itself, so he panics and accidentally sends a brain emoji, which makes it look even worse. He throws in an alligator emoji too, because alligators are cute and he wants to try and ease the situation a little. He stares at it a little too long and it frankly makes the entire thing one hundred per cent more awful, so he switches off his phone and stares at his reflection in the black screen.

"Get yourself together," he tells himself firmly. "Come on, man."

His reflection doesn't listen, so he puts his phone face-down on his table and heads out the room.

* * *

Aside from the terrible sinking feeling in his gut the entire the time, the photoshoot is actually quite a lot of fun.

True to Nico's word, Will The Stylist is there, dancing around like a ballerina. He's quite handsome up close, Percy realises. He can see why Nico likes him. He's all rosy-cheeked and freckly, with sleepy blue eyes and a head of blonde hair. He has long eyelashes and longer fingers and as soon as he walks into the room Percy sees Nico almost fall sideways off his chair.

He also turns out to be a lot more than just a 'stylist'. Turns out, he's head stylist of the entire band also is quite good friends with the photographer ("don't we all love coincidences," Thalia says, amused) so he has a lot of creative input into the shoot itself. According to Will, they're going for a "magical" vibe. "Think Enchanted by Taylor Swift," he says cheerfully, as if any of them have ever heard it.

"I love that song," Nico gushes.

Percy doesn't ever think Nico has listened to Taylor Swift before. He's all mushy, it's so cute.

Thalia gets wrestled away by a team of stylists who are not Will but are all under strict instructions from him. Percy sees them bring out a pot of glitter and several scary-looking brushes so he backs away and decides to focus on himself for now.

"We're going to put you in a tie," Will says. "Do you have any objections against ties?"

"Not particularly."

"Thank God, I had literally no other ideas. Now, come on. We're going with a blue theme, so I've set up a rack of all your options. Pick one and also keep your shirt on – it looks good. Nico?"

Nico appears almost instantly. Percy has to bite his lips to stop himself from laughing.

"I've got a bunch of stuff for you to try on..." Will's voice drifts off as the two of them heading the direction of one of the dressing rooms. Percy is left alone with a rather impressive rack of ties, almost every single one of them in the same shade of blue. They almost match Thalia's eyes, he thinks dizzily. Blindly, he reaches for one and ties it lopsidedly around his neck. He's wearing a black button-up underneath, which personally makes him feel like he's going to choke, but he makes do nonetheless and smoothes his tie out against his chest.

Thalia reappears next to him after a few moments of quiet contemplation. She's got blue glitter on her cheekbones and her leather jacket is covered in sparkles. She looks a little affronted, so Percy decides to be good and dust the glitter off her shoulders for her.

"That," she says, "was hard."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," he says. "But you look pretty."

She smoulders crossly.

When Nico comes back to them minutes later Percy realises the look Will is going for. They're all wearing some sort of blue, Thalia with her glitter and Percy with his tie and Nico with his socks – his _socks_ – and after Will huffs a little and redoes Percy's tie and tells Thalia she looks beautiful, he leads them to their set. It's a brick wall, with a series of wooden crates propped up in front of it. There's an expensive black Gibson propped up on a stand nearby and Percy's mouth almost waters because he's never seen a guitar so gorgeous in person. There are fairy lights hung up and the lights are down low.

It's a very pretty layout.

Just–

"Is this, like, _us_?" Nico asks tentatively.

Will nods. "Absolutely."

Thalia tilts her head. "Hm."

"You look skeptical, but the photos will come out incredible, just you wait." Without even hesitating he suddenly shouts, "Can I have a leather jacket please?"

Percy is shocked with how quickly someone lobs it at them. It comes almost immediately, and out of nowhere, too, like someone had been lurking in the shadows almost waiting for him to ask for it. Will calmly catches it without even turning around and Percy blinks, a little startled. Will gives it to him. "Here, put this on," he says. He steps backwards and looks at them from head to toe. "Nico, do you have any other shoes?"

"Uh." Nico pauses. "No?"

A girl passes them and Will gently takes her arm. "Get him some boots, please," he tells her, and she nods and carts Nico off, like a conveyer belt. Will has really got a system around here, and Percy kind of admires that. He hopes he and Nico get together. Nico needs someone this put-together in his life.

As Nico fades off in the distance, Will leads Percy and Thalia to the set. There are already several ringlights set up, like they're in arena, and when they get directly taken to the centre Percy is momentarily dazzled by how bright everything is. The fairy lights get switched on – and whoop-de-do, they're also blue – and the photographer, Lee, starts shouting instructions.

Nico gets thrown back in a few minutes later, his Vans gone and replaced with a pair of chunky boots. He seems a little unsure in them, stumbling around like they're several kilos too heavy for his feet, but he finds his footing eventually and troops around to Percy and Thalia, dazed.

Percy feels similarly. Everything is going so fast it's giving him whiplash.

Lee is a machine when it comes to what he wants. He barks instructions at the three of them ("Thalia, tilt your head up, Nico can you– head _up_ , Thalia") and Percy feels so uncomfortable it's almost funny. Will stands to the side with a beam on his face, and whenever Percy dares change his position to glance at Nico he sees he's grinning back dopily at him. They're both so gross.

It gets him thinking about Annabeth. She hasn't responded to his text, even though it's been hours. He knows she's seen it, though. She must have. She's on her phone almost 24/7, considering she's built her career off social media.

It fills him with irrational anxiety. _Why hasn't she responded, then?_

"Percy!" Lee calls. " _Smile_!"

He tries to. He feels Thalia's gaze on him but he pointedly ignores her.

The rest of the photoshoot goes pretty smooth-sailing. The entire set does seem a little too 'magical' for their brand, which is electric guitars and Thalia flipping off the press, but Percy decides to trust Will. He knows what he's doing. And besides, he's wearing a leather jacket and Nico's in big black boots, so he supposes that's something. Even if Thalia is in glitter.

After what seems like hours, they're finished. They all stumble, dazed by the constant stream of lights, back to their dressing room, and almost instinctively the first thing Percy does is reach for his phone.

His heart stops when he sees there's a text. From Annabeth.

 **Annabeth** : mine at 6?

 **Annabeth** : i think i owe you an explanation

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **so this got unnaturally angsty im terribly sorry i just realised that i wanted to take this story a slightly different route so voila are you all buckled in for some momentary angst until i kick in with the big guns**

 **ME TOO**

 **anyway**

 **how have you all been? i hope you've all been good! i visited harper Collins yesterday because of the competition thing that i won and that was ever so excellent (my god i came home with like eighteen books plus three chocolate coins) and it was just really nice. i met with a lot of other like-minded girls who are awesome at writing and it was just wonderful to go to**

 **also i got one of my English tests back and i did pretty well which is funn (i got an A- in GCSE which happens next year so that's also pretty cool) but to balance it out i got another test back and i got an F in that so that's also fun**

 **anywho**

 **I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! i threw in a bit of solangelo because who doesn't love solangelo :DD please tell me what you thought and i shall see you all next Saturday! love you my beans xx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

* * *

"Doesn't mean my heart stops skipping when you look at me like that"

\- Please Don't Say You Love Me, Gabrielle Aplin

* * *

Percy tries to arrive at Annabeth's house as soon as he can.

It takes a frustratingly long time to get out of the studio. Nico insists on hanging back so he can have a chat with Will about possibly keeping the boots (that's what he says, anyway, but they also disappear unnecessarily into one of the dressing rooms to do so, so Percy seriously doubts that's all they're doing) and Thalia can't find her phone and everything's a mess and _Percy just wants to leave right now_.

"Guys, come on!"

"Percy," Thalia says, "if you do not shut up right this instant I will personally rip out your spleen and feed it to you, are we understood? I get that you want to go and love it up with Annabeth but it can _wait_."

Percy considers shouting that she was the one who had effectively bullied him into texting Annabeth so frankly this is all her fault but Thalia's eyes don't look like she's playing around and Percy would personally quite like to keep his spleen so he shuts up and grouches in his chair, letting her scuttle around trying to find her phone.

In the end, it takes them _half an hour_ to piece themselves together enough to stumble outside. Nico's mouth is bruised and he looks a bit like he's going to fall into a trance, and Will just looks smug, and Percy is not an idiot, so he's pretty sure he knows exactly what went on in that dressing room (for half an hour, too – he's quite impressed) and eventually Thalia had found her phone in someone's shoe.

("Was someone trying to _steal_ my phone?"

"I sincerely doubt it. It's got a giant crack on it."

"It's also got Harry Styles's phone number on it."

"That's a very good point.")

(Nico also ended up getting the boots.)

By the time they're outside, Percy is quite ready to pull his own hair out. He almost sobs with relief when he sees Argus pull up in their usual black van, and before it's even stopped moving he's already wrestled the door open and climbed in, bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"Can you drop me at Annabeth's, please?" he asks tensely.

"Don't," Thalia says, as she clambers in after him. She turns to Percy. "I know you want to see her, but you need to calm down. We're stopping at ours first to have some lunch, and then you're going to get into a new change of clothes and have a cup of tea. Have you even texted her back?"

"No."

"See, you can do that now." She cranes her neck to look at Percy's phone. "Bloody hell, it's not even six yet. Are you serious?"

"He's just eager, leave him alone," Nico says.

They both turn to look at him. The first button of his shirt is undone and his hair is all rumpled and his lips are still flushed red. They stare at him for a solid three counts before ignoring him and turning back to Percy's phone.

"Whatever," Percy mumbles sulkily, typing out _ill see you then_ and angling his phone away from her. "I just– got excited."

"Well, get unexcited, because you've got three hours until you can go," Thalia says.

"Yeah," Nico agrees. "You wouldn't want to show up early, that's just desperate. Especially since it looks like she's going to spill a deep dark secret. That's just try-hard and also a little creepy."

Percy frowns. "I'm sorry, okay? I just– I want this to work."

"Trust me, so do we," Thalia says. "It'll bring us great publicity."

Percy gives her a dead look. "Ha ha."

"I mean, I'm not wrong."

Nico elbows her. "What our dear cousin _means_ is that we also like Annabeth very much and if you two get together that means she can come over more often and we can bond as a foursome and you can have super attractive children together."

"Also we like seeing you happy," Thalia says.

"That, too."

Percy rolls his eyes affectionately. "You two are such losers."

"Yes, but we're cool losers who should learn to appreciate more," Nico says. "I doubt you'd find many people as patient and calm and kind as us who'd be willing to put up with you."

"I happen to know lots of people who would be willing to put up with me."

"You mean Hollywood Buzz and the Daily Mail," Nico says. "I'm sure they'd be more than thrilled to listen to you talk about your Annabeth problems. They'd probably even take notes and everything."

"You're so unfunny it actually hurts sometimes."

"Besides," Thalia adds. "Percy's clearly not the only one with a fascinating love life."

Nico flushes so red Percy's afraid he's going to burst a blood vessel. "You don't know a thing."

Thalia smirks.

"You and Will seem close," Percy says. "Very close, actually, some would argue. Maybe so close that certain body parts would be touching. Say, the lips."

Nico groans and buries his head in his hands. "Please shut up now."

Percy can see Argus smiling in the rearview mirror, and despite himself he smiles too. "Don't be shy, Nico," he says. "We were just wondering."

"Will is my stylist, okay."

"We're not saying he's not," Thalia says. "Just – maybe you guys should do some business talk elsewhere. Like a restaurant. Where he pays. With a candle and some violin music. Just saying, you know."

There's a pause. "You think he'd want to go out with me?"

"You two literally made out for half an hour!"

"That doesn't mean anything! What if he only saw me as a booty call?"

"First off," Percy says, "you invited him for dinner last night. That wasn't very booty-callish. If I recall correctly, actually, you made him dinner, so technically you two have already been on a date. A home date, too, which makes it even more personal. Also I'm not sure he took his eyes off you the entire time we were doing that shoot."

Nico's head shoots up. "Really?"

"I'm surprised you didn't notice," Percy says. "Considering you also spent the entire time gawking at him."

"You can never be too sure."

Thalia rolls her eyes and pulls out her own phone. "You two are absolute idiots."

"Don't take her grumpiness personally," Nico stage whispers to him as she starts to text someone. "She's just moody because she's not getting any action."

"That's not true," Thalia says.

"Of course not, honeypie!" Nico calls, and then as soon as her attention back to her phone he mutters, "You see?"

Percy rolls his eyes.

They arrive home in reasonably good time. Percy makes sure to give Argus a nice, appreciative pat on the arm as he clambers out the van, because he's such a good chauffer, and then they head up their apartment. There are two girls standing talking with their doorman and when they see them shuffle in their eyes widen comically largely. Percy can see the doorman sigh in frustration (he does feel a little bad for him – ever since they moved in he's probably had to ward away quite a few fans who tracked them back home) but even though they're all tired and Thalia still has sparkles on the shoulders of her leather jacket Percy beams at them and dutifully takes pictures.

"They were nice," Nico says in the elevator up.

"And I am tired," Thalia says, with a yawn. "I'm gonna crash as soon as we get home."

"What about lunch?" asks Percy, slightly mockingly.

"You're very capable of making your own lunch." She yawns again and stretches her arms. "God, I just want to collapse right here."

"It would be preferable if you didn't," Nico says. "Hold on, like, two minutes. Then you can chill."

"What time is it?" Percy asks.

Nico checks his phone. "Three-thirty. Two and a half hours, lover boy. Rein it in."

"I wasn't–" Percy stops when he sees them smirk at him, realizing arguing will effectively be no use. "Oh, whatever."

* * *

Percy rides up in the elevator to Annabeth's apartment in silence.

There's soft music playing in the background. It should calm him down but all it does is kind of want to rip his ears off. He's so tense and nervous that he's afraid he might accidentally tear himself to shreds in anticipation. He doesn't know what to do now. What will she say? Either way, it'll be death to something. Whether it's their relationship completely, or just the romantic side, or maybe even just kissing – today something is going to be left in the dirt and Percy isn't sure how to feel about it.

The elevator pings and the doors slide open. He steps out.

He's been counting down the hours since he received her text but now he almost wishes he wasn't here.

He pads along the hallway and pauses in front of her door.

He's making this out to be a much bigger deal than it is, he realises. She's just a girl. It was just a kiss. They're just two people. He's a coward.

He lifts his fist and knocks on the door.

Two beats pass before Annabeth opens the door. He is embarrassingly slightly disappointed to see that it doesn't look as though she's been massively mourning his absence, because she looks pretty ordinary, but she isn't wearing any makeup and she's wearing a big Christmas jumper even though it's only September. She smiles at him, a little awkwardly, and says, "Hey."

"Hi."

They stand there and stare at each other for a bit before she steps backwards and nods towards the living room. "Um, you wanna come in?"

"Sure." He steps in and kicks off his shoes. Bradley mews from where he's perched on one of the stairs. Socks is predictably nowhere to be seen, and Percy hears a jangle of a collar and the skittering of claws against the floorboards two seconds before Ron crashes into his legs.

Percy laughs nervously as Ron leaps onto his hind legs, pawing at his knees. He scratches between his ears. "Hey, boy," he says. "How are you doing?"

Ron yips.

"That's great. Hey, you wanna get me your bone?"

Ron barks in excitement and scuttles off as fast as he came. They both watch him leave.

"I have a feeling they prefer you to me," Annabeth says.

"I give them lots of treats."

"Well, that's why," she says. "You can't just cram them full with treats."

"This is why I'm the cool dad and you're the boring mom."

Annabeth scowls at him, but it's all good-natured and Percy feels the ball of iron in his chest loosen slightly. Maybe they can keep ignoring the elephant in the room until it dies so they won't ever have to address it.

Moments later, Ron comes bounding back with his rubber bone in his mouth. Annabeth gasps in pride and Percy rubs his head. "Good _boy_ ," he coos (God, Annabeth really _has_ rubbed off on him.) "You're such a good boy, Ronnie." Ronnie barks, pleased. "Do you wanna go wait for us in the living room, okay? Me and your mama just need to talk for a bit."

Ron yips and prances off. Socks stalks out from under the dresser and gives him an unimpressed look.

He ignores him and turns to Annabeth, who's standing there with a wistful look on her face. It's real now. Percy feels like they both felt like they could have danced around it and trampled it into the floor until it wasn't there anymore, but now he's mentioned it and it'd be like trying to ignore a hole in the ground.

"Do you want some tea?" she asks, her voice slightly hopeful. She's trying to buy herself time. Percy allows her.

"Uh, yeah, that would be nice."

He follows her into the kitchen. It's still the same the last time he was there (which was literally only a day ago bloody _hell_ he's pathetic) but there's a pot of half-finished ramen noodles on the counter and an opened laptop next to it with a notebook thrown haphazardly across all the keys. There's also a bunch of filming equipment out – a camera, a tripod, a ring light, and her glasses are hanging over the lid of the laptop like a chain. It's quite a messy setup but it's so endearingly Annabeth Percy has to smile.

"You look busy," he comments dryly.

Annabeth laughs a bit. "You could say that," she says. "Just– doing some last-minute filming, that's all."

"Didn't mean to interrupt."

"I was the one who invited you around, remember?" She puts on the kettle and brings out two mugs. "What do you want?"

"Uh, do you have rooibis?"

"I do." Annabeth pulls out two teabags. "Milk or nah?"

"Milk."

"Any sugar?"

"One spoon."

"Cool." She busies herself around the kitchen, expertly avoiding spilling any water on her laptop and then somehow getting sugar absolutely everywhere. Bradley licks up the grains that make it onto the floor and Percy watches fondly as she accidentally spills sugar onto her keyboard.

She's so cute it sometimes hurts.

After she finally manages to navigate the correct amount of sugar into each mug (one for Percy, six for Annabeth) (" _six_?" "I've had a very stressful day, okay") she turns around bashfully and leans against the counter. "So," she says. Her voice sounds a little shy.

Percy mirrors her, leaning against the counter on the other side of the kitchen. They're now opposite each other. He could touch her if he slides his feet forward a few inches. He doesn't.

"So," he says.

"You're here about– the kiss."

"The kiss."

"Yes."

"I am."

Annabeth blows out a breath. Of relief, desperation, worry, Percy doesn't know. "Okay."

The kettle pops before the conversation can progress any further. She lets out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief and turns around to busy herself with pouring the tea. Percy looks around to distract himself.

She's got herself a real nice setup. It's almost jarring to see the place where all her videos are filmed in real life. He smiles faintly at the memory.

Annabeth turns back around with both mugs of tea. She hands one to Percy and then takes one for herself, and smiles a little awkwardly at him.

"Shall we?" she asks.

"We shall," Percy says, and together they head into the living room. Ron is curled up on one of the pillows, fast asleep, and the other animals are nowhere to be seen. Annabeth takes the spot next to him, one of her hands subconsciously going out to stroke him. He snuffles in approval, still asleep. She tucks her legs underneath her and balances her cup on her knee, staring vacantly at the blank TV.

Percy sits next to her, a safe distance away.

They sip in silence for a minute before Annabeth speaks. "He was called Luke," she says. "I dated him for three years."

Percy doesn't speak.

"We met in high school. He was a year older and, like, the pinnacle of cool. Football team and all, you know the sort. I'd had a crush on him for ages but when we were fifteen he asked me out for the first time, and because I was so in love of course I said yes. And it was nice. It was."

She traces her fingers around the cup. "I– I guess I didn't see it coming. He'd always been so sweet to me. Bought me chocolate for Valentine's Day and took me to his prom, and then went to mine, and he met my parents and they liked him, so I thought he was perfect."

Percy feels a ball of spikes press against his windpipe. "He didn't–"

"He didn't hit me, no," Annabeth says. Her voice is almost eerily calm. "When I look back now I realise what a jerk was. He told me that I was a slut because I looked at one of his friends too long, you know that?"

Percy flinches. She may as well have hit _him_.

"I didn't leave him until I was eighteen," she says. "That's three years of my life I wasted with him. It was Piper's doing, too. She helped me so much. She was the one who had smacked some sense into me – metaphorically, of course, she doesn't really believe in hitting her best friends. I didn't believe her for ages until I caught him in the locker room with another girl."

Percy looks at her. She doesn't look sad, more thoughtful. This is a story she's told a lot.

"He'd been cheating on me for years," she says. "Not just with that girl, with loads. Apparently I was the only one who didn't know."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was a while ago." Annabeth smiles wryly. "Besides, karma kind of came in with me. I have a good job and make good money and he's behind bars because he hit his fiancée and also dealt drugs to minors. Good riddance, I'd say."

"He– hit his fiancée?"

"I found her, you know," Annabeth says. "He'd called me when he first got arrested, tried to get me to bail him out. He'd known that I was getting successful and because I'd fallen for it in the past he thought he'd be able to convince me to get him out. I left him there. I kind of saved him there, too. Like. His life is ruined, because I doubt he'll be able to get a good job maybe ever, but I could have ruined his entire universe. If he did what he did to me when I had the audience I do I could have torn him apart."

"You wouldn't have, though."

"No," she agrees. "I wouldn't have. But I found the girl, Luke's fiancée. Or ex fiancée. She's called Silena."

Percy pauses. "Silena Beauregard?"

Annabeth smiles faintly. "You've worked with her."

"She's a model, isn't she?"

"Did the Victoria Secret walk this year."

"Whoa." Percy sits back. "That was Luke's ex?"

Annabeth nods.

"Wow. You two really upgraded."

"I know." Annabeth picks at the blanket around her. "But – um. I didn't mean to freak out on you when we kissed like that."

"It's okay."

"It's not, not really." Annabeth sighs and takes another sip of her tea. "I just – I haven't really dated since Luke, you know. And what we had going between us was brilliant, is brilliant, and I've loved all our dates and stuff, but when you kissed me I think it just – it just got a little too real, you know? And you're just – special to me. And I wasn't sure if I could handle you going away. If you ever did."

"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Percy says softly. "You know that, right?"

Annabeth sighs. "I know."

"If we want this relationship to progress anywhere we'll need to take risks," Percy tells her. "And quite a few of them." In a moment of bravery, he takes her hand, and she looks up at him and swallows. "I want this relationship to work out. I do. And maybe you do too. I hope so, in any case, because that would be super awkward if you didn't."

She manages a weak smile.

"But we're going to have to trust each other," Percy says. "If you want us to date – be official boyfriend and girlfriend – then you'll need to trust me when I say I _promise_ you I never will do what Luke did. I may be an arsehole, but I'm not _that_ big of an arsehole. You're going to have to trust me when I say I will try and make this relationship work, and I'm going to trust you if you want to try and make this relationship work, too. But – and this is a big but – if I ever, ever do something that makes you uncomfortable, like I did with that kiss, tell me, okay? Because I hated myself for the entire of today, knowing that I did something like that to you. Okay?"

Annabeth stares at him for a long time. And then finally, she nods. "Okay," she whispers.

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **im uploading this from my theatre group whatsit (we're doing a show tonight! wish me luck!) and it's a bit hectic here haha. i do feel very important though because I've curled my hair and i'm wearing mascara and i'm in a pretty dress so watch as i strut through the halls like an absolute egotist**

 **anyway i hope you enjoyed that! i was really not planning to make this story as angsty as it has become (i decided to give you all a break after ispy haha) but lo and behold it has happened so now we have some sad annabeth backstory! i know i always make luke the bad guy but what's done is done and also the only person i could think to use was Octavian and as if annabeth's standards would stoop low enough to date Octavian at least luke was attractive**

 **ALSO WAIT 200 REVIEWS I NEARLY FORGOT THIS AN IS GONNA BE SO LONG**

 **but guys we reached 200 reviews! that's absolutely NUTS im so so happy and we're only at chapter 13 you guys are crazy and i love you to the end of the world and back.**

 **so, as per tradition:**

 **GollyGeeWhiz** – you already know how much i love you you beaut thank you for being incredible i love you dearly and you're just ever so fabulous thanks for being great pal!

 **AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter** – thank you so much! you always leave such wonderful comments it's so nice to read them all! and i sincerely hope so haha

 **allineedisabook** **[guest]** – i mean what do i even say you are such a beautiful soul and your reviews are like the highlight of my week thank you so much! and omg you tried to buy the ebook GURL i love u! i don't know why it did that :/ i might upload the story somewhere though so you can check it out :DD

 **Penguin1127** – eeeeeee thank you so much! im a sucker for long reviews and yours are just so nice and simply splendid to read! haha im so sorry i made you almost leave – here's a sorry? also i took a listen to your two song suggestions and they're so good! thank you so much for recommending them!

 **PickledMirror** – aaahhh thank you!

 **Dantikat** – wow thank you ever so much! that's so good of you! :DDD and theyna is a bit of a hit-and-miss for me if im being honest. sometimes i really enjoy it and sometimes i feel like it's a bit forced. in my mind Thalia in this au is actually asexual but i could possibly introduce reyna as a little side-romance. thanks for the idea though! xx

 **Qwertywerido** – xDDD

 **lilythir** – omg thank you so much that's so sweet of you!

 **Turtla** – you've been here since ispy and your reviews are always so wonderful! thank you so much!

 **ireallyforgot** – well here it is :D

 **WiseGirl1609** – here's ur answer pal

 **PandaBot3000** – thank you so much!

 **burnt up feeling** – um babe ur the best

 **amalspach** – oh wow thank you so much! i was actually so sure i had bombed it but it was nice to know i didn't xx thanks lots!

 **Krystaltheelemental** – xDD

 **RoyalFox** – thanks so much!

 **The Worst Username Ever** – here's some more solangelo x

 **Wisdomsqueen** – thanks pal!

 **again thanks to everyone who reviewed and to all the guests! i love you all heaps and heaps and this has just been far too long ill shut up now! please tell me what you thought and i shall see you all soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

* * *

"But you carry my groceries and now I'm always laughing  
I love you because you have given me no choice but to stay, stay, stay"

\- Stay Stay Stay, Taylor Swift

* * *

"All right, all right, up and at 'em!"

Drowsily, Percy blinks himself awake. Everything is still fuzzy and distorted, in that kind of way that happens whenever you get forcefully woken up, but if he squints he manages to make out a blurry black shape hovering over him.

He fists at his eyes to try and make it clearer, and when it does he screams so loud he hears Nico fall out of his bed in shock from the next room.

He prays that Mr D hasn't got a wife. Otherwise he would assume she would have that reaction every morning when she woke up and his ugly mug dangerously close to hers was the first thing she saw.

"Mr D!" he gasps. "I–I..."

He's definitely awake now. He really doesn't want this being a regular fixture.

"Percy," Dionysus says calmly. "I'm glad you're awake."

"You woke me up!"

"You've got a magazine article in three hours," he continues, like Percy hasn't even spoken. "You need to be showered and dressed, they're coming here."

"How did you even get into our house?"

"I have a key," he says. "Obviously."

Percy sits up and gapes at him. "Uh...?"

"Well," Mr D says pleasantly, like this isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened. He pats Percy's leg. "Do hurry up, you need to whizz around with a vacuum after you're dressed. Honestly, this place is filthy, do you ever clean?"

Percy watches as he stands up and potters around Percy's room, running his finger along the windowsill like he's inspecting it. "Not really," he says. "We do, like, make sure we're not growing fungus anywhere, and we'll wipe down the sides after dinner, but we don't, like, sterilize it, if that's what you're asking?"

"Percy, my boy, you barely _dust_ it. You're running a germ factory here."

"It's not a big deal."

Mr D's face pinches. "Before Band Weekly comes here you need to scrub," he says. "If I catch even a hint of the writer mentioning that this place is so much _unkempt_ I will personally fire you, do you understand?"

Percy once managed to cram tacos into Mr D's shoes and got busted for it and he's _still_ here, so he just rolls his eyes. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Wake up the others, please, they need to be up too. I got Will to leave a rack of clothes for you to choose from in the living room, so once you're all showered and don't smell of wet socks you can choose from them for the front page."

"Are we doing the photoshoot here?"

"They want to make the whole article 'raw' and 'real'."

"By making us pose in our own house?"

"It's all part of the experience," Mr D says. "Trust them, Percy, they know much more about photography than you ever will." He heads over to the door. "I will be here in two hours, and I want this place _spotless_ by then. Now, chop chop."

He vanishes from the doorway like a magician.

Percy scowls at the space where he used to be. Who does he think he is, a god?

Nonetheless, he does end up eventually crawling out of bed. He thanks the Lord he decided to sleep in shorts and a T-shirt last night, because his normal sleepwear consists of just his boxers, and even then that's rare – it gets hot in LA, okay, if he wants to sleep naked he will sleep naked – so he doesn't have to pick all his clothes out his suitcase and smell them. It's been two weeks since they arrived back from tour, and he still hasn't unpacked. It's both a nostalgia and laziness kind of thing.

Blearily, he walks out of his room, with the intentions of pattering over to the kitchen to get himself some water and also to drop a frying pan or two to wake up Thalia and Nico, but when he passes the living room he stops.

It's _Will_. Nico's Will. Standing fully dressed in the middle of it, with a rack of clothes propped up against the wall. He's sitting on the sofa with his phone, and when he catches sight of Percy he beams and slides it in his back pocket. "Percy!" he says cheerfully. "Hey, man, it's nice to see you!"

Percy timidly returns the friendly hug he gives him. "Uh, you too."

Will smiles widely at him and then steps back to show the rack. "I'm so glad you're up, I've been waiting quite a while. Now, as you can see here, I've picked out some outfits that I thought would nicely work with you – you're in the middle, Nico's left and Thalia's is on the right – so–"

"Um," Percy interrupts. "Will? Not– not to sound, like, ungrateful or anything, but– how did you get in my house?"

"Oh." Will's ever-present smile still hasn't dimmed, not a tiny bit. "Your manager gave me a key."

Percy's eye twitches. "Mr D gave you a key."

"Yeah, he gave one to all of the stylists. He's got, like, twenty more copies, all on a chain. He gave me mine yesterday, told me to arrive as early as I wanted, as long as it was before eight thirty."

"He– he gave a key to every stylist?"

"Yes."

Percy blinks.

"But right now, our biggest concern is your magazine cover in a few hours. Are the others up?"

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure they're still asleep."

"Would you mind waking them all up for me? You're all very beautiful humans and I would die for skin as smooth as Thalia's but it does take quite a while to make you all even more gorgeous then you already are, and they're coming in a bit."

Percy just nods, his head still reeling. He also becomes very conscious halfway out the door that he's literally only in his pajamas around Nico's _boyfriend_ (or whatever he is, Percy doesn't know) but, then again, he is the one dressing them, so he supposes this is probably the most clothed he'll ever see them.

He heads over to Thalia's room and tentatively pushes the door open. Thank heavens, she's already awake, lying in her bed with her phone propped up on her sternum and her chin on her chest. She glances upwards and sees him loitering in her doorway and rolls her eyes fondly. "Hey."

"We need to get up."

"I got that, yeah." She stretches. "What time is it?"

"I think about eight?"

"Cool." She rubs her head. "God, I've got a raging headache. I've been up since five."

" _Five_? Did you get back to sleep?"

"No, it was awful. I couldn't do anything, just lie awake. Eventually I got onto my phone but I didn't want to at first, 'cause, you know, radiation and all that, makes it harder to fall asleep. Whatever." She arches her back and curls her arms inwards above her head, like she does whenever she stretches. She's very elegant, Thalia. A bit like a cat. "Anyway, we've still got this bloody article, even if I'm absolutely knackered. Go on, then, wake Nico. I'll get dressed."

"Will's out there. He's got a bunch of clothes."

" _Will_? Nico's Will?"

"Yeah. He has a key."

" _What_?"

"Mr D has one, too. Apparently he gave one to every stylist we have."

Thalia blinks in disbelief. "Wow, safety first."

"I know." Percy starts to back out the door. "I'll go wake up Nico."

"You do that, I'll be out in a few minutes."

He plods down the hall to where Nico's bedroom is. He's definitely not as tentative with Nico as he is with Thalia, because Thalia threatens to scoop his innards on a daily basis for so much as breathing too loudly so waking her up is probably only slightly worse than jumping head-first into a volcano, whereas Nico will just whine and grumble a bit and maybe get in a few weak swats. He's easy, honestly.

This is shown by the way Percy positively throws his door open, with a loud shout of, "WAKE UP NEEKY-POO!"

Nico is, unbelievably, still asleep. Percy was right earlier when he said his scream managed to shock him so badly he fell out of bed, but he clearly underestimated how lazy he was, because he's still asleep on the floor. Half his body is still draped over his bed and his shirt has almost entirely ridden up, and his cheek is pressed against the floorboards with his duvet pooled around his hips, and he's dead to the world.

Percy almost laughs.

He walks over and squats by Nico's head. "Hey," he says. "You wanna wake up?"

"Lea'ee- _a'oonne_ ," Nico mumbles.

Percy laughs then. "No can do, bud. We've got an article soon."

"Whatever."

Well. He asked for it. "Will's here."

Nico doesn't move but his body tenses up and when he speaks his voice is very clear. "Oh?"

"Yeah. In our living room."

"If you think Will is going to get me up you are severely mistaken."

"Whatever you say," Percy says, standing up. "Be there soon."

He struts out the door without even glancing back. He knows within seconds Nico's going to be up. Of course he is, he's practically in love with Will. The opportunity is just too good to pass up.

Also the magazine article. But mainly Will.

He doesn't go back to the living room. He can see Thalia already there, her hair rumpled and makeup smeared. Instead, while Will's busy with making her look pretty, he pops into the kitchen, and swings himself up on the counter with a glass of water, and checks his phone for the first time that day.

There's all the usual notifications, Instagram comments, Twitter DMs, his mom making sure he hasn't died, but a handful are also from Annabeth, and he has no shame in admitting that's the first text he checks. He swipes left on her text and it takes him straight to their conversation.

 **Annabeth** : did u know billy goats pee on their heads

 **Annabeth** : it's to make them smell more attractive to the females

 **Annabeth** : although im not sure how anatomically that's quite possible but that's still kind of cute

 **Annabeth** im just curious as to what their pee smells like because human pee is not something i'd personally be attracted to

 **Annabeth** : also did you know heart attacks are statistically more likely to happen on a monday

They've all been sent from sometime around two am and Percy has to suppress his smile into his glass. She's just such a nerd.

His and Annabeth's relationship has been– growing, to say the least. After Percy visited her and they had a long discussion, they agreed it would be best if they didn't rush straight anything. Percy's not sure if they're in an official relationship – he's been too afraid to bring it up – but since then they have resumed their endless text messages and they even went to the movies together as a _date_. That's what Annabeth said, anyway. She was blushing a lot and she didn't look Percy in the eyes when she had shyly admitted it. Percy had been thrilled. They had each bought popcorns and large Cokes and they tried to hold hands through the entire movie but they ended up getting super sweaty, so instead Annabeth leant on Percy's shoulder and he had spent the rest of it fascinated with one of her curls that just wouldn't lie flat.

He thinks they're in a proper relationship, but he's too scared to mention it. He reckons he'll know when the turning point is, when he feels like he can make it Instagram official and can boast to Thalia and Nico that she's his girlfriend, when she can mention to her millions of viewers that he's hers.

It's a nice feeling, to know that that's somewhere on the horizon. For now, he's quite happy with dancing in the grey area.

He takes a selfie, pushing his chin into his neck and rolling out all the chins, and sends it to her with the flamenco dancer emoji. Then he shoves his phone in the pocket of his jeans and heads into the living room with his glass of water.

Sure enough, there's Nico, standing in just his boxers and a faded grey tank top with Will at the rack of clothes. Thalia appears to have already been attacked, because she's slouched on the sofa under a mountain of jeans with her phone in her hands. She pulls a face and tilts her phone sideways, then she frowns and shakes her head and retakes it.

Percy collapses next to her. "Who're you sending those sexy pictures to?"

"Annabeth," she says. "She's brought you up twice so far in our conversation so I'm just sending her photos to remind her who's the real one she loves here."

Percy rolls his eyes.

Will finishes with Nico and then tilts his head. "Come on, Perce, you're up."

Obediently, Percy clambers to his feet and watches with amusement as Nico staggers past him with a enough clothes in his arms to supply a small country. He turns his attention back to Will and says, "Dress me up, pretty boy."

"I will," Will says. "What vibe are you feeling?"

"Uh. Chill?"

"Chill." Will hums, like that's exactly the right answer. "I think I might have some stuff for that." He hunts around amidst the array of brightly coloured plastic hangers. "Thoughts on stripes?"

"All quite positive."

In response, Will chucks him a black and white striped shirt. "Rips or nah?"

"For the jeans?"

"Yeah."

"Uh." Percy thinks. "Sure, why not."

It's the wrong answer. Will throws four pairs of jeans over his shoulder onto the steadily growing pile in Percy's arms. "Belt?"

"Not a fan."

"Okay." Will searches through them like a man on a mission. The hangers click together as he shoves them against each other. "Here, have a go with this one. You're a fan of green, aren't you?"

"Uh, sure."

"Cool." Two more shirts. "Hat?"

"Why not."

A snapback and three different coloured beanies fly over his shoulder. Percy darts to catch them all. "Cuffed jeans?"

"I've never worn them."

"Well, no time like the present." A pair of jeans. "If you choose these ones, wear black ankle socks. If you decide on any of the others you can wear whatever. Now, what shoes were you planning on?"

"Oh, did we need shoes?"

Will turns around and gives Percy probably the most disappointed look he's ever been faced with. And that's really saying something, considering his average in Calculus never got above a C–. "Percy."

"We're technically not leaving the house!"

"It's a photoshoot, of course you need shoes."

"Not necessarily. I could make history."

"Converse or boots?"

Percy sighs. This is a losing battle. "Converse."

"Which ones?"

"High-tops."

"Good, good. Black?"

"Yep."

"Good." Will digs around a little more and produces a few more T-shirts, and then cheerfully places them on top of the pile in Percy's arms. "Well, these are your options. You can pick whatever you want. Mix and match. They should all go together, seeing as all three of you have such depressing, monochromatic taste in clothing."

"Thanks," Thalia says without looking up from her phone.

Percy just juggles the clothes in his arms and patters into his bedroom, throwing them all ceremoniously onto his bed. He goes through them for seemingly ages, because they just don't seem to ever end, but eventually he picks a pair of black jeans and the stripy shirt. He pulls on the first two socks he pulls out from his drawer, and just because he's a piece of work like that he doesn't put on his shoes, and instead patters in just his socks to the living room.

Will looks up from his laptop and positively beams. "Hey, you look great!"

"Thanks." Percy glances down at himself. "I think the stripes are really working."

"They make you look fat," Thalia says.

"You're just jealous."

"I haven't even got changed."

"Yes, that's slightly worrying," Will says. "Go get changed."

Thalia rolls her eyes and heaves herself off the sofa, dragging her feet to her bedroom. From down the hall, they both hear the door slam.

"Don't worry," Percy tells him. "She's just crabby because she didn't sleep well last night."

"I can tell." Will produces a can of hairspray from seemingly nowhere. "Well, while she's gone, we can work on this rat's nest you call your hair. Do you even brush it?"

"It doesn't stay down flat."

"Yes, I can see that. Close your eyes for me for a sec."

Compliantly, Percy screws his eyes shut, and he feels Will's fingers run through his hair, and then seconds later it gets covered in a layer of hair spray. He splutters, trying to get the taste out of your mouth.

"You were meant to keep your eyes shut!"

"It got in my mouth. Bleugh." Percy sticks out his tongue. "That tastes gross."

"That's because it's not meant to be consumed. Now, close your eyes properly for me. And your mouth."

Percy does. Will sprays the hairspray all over, and then when he's done he chucks it behind him and says, "You can open them."

Percy takes the opportunity with his eyes now open to check his texts. As Will attacks his head with a comb, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and sees a new text from Annabeth. The smile across his face grows.

He opens it. It's a selfie of her, with her eyes crossed and her tongue out, and Percy's so in love he thinks it's actually hurting him. He smiles so wide at it that he's afraid his face might split open.

Will catches him. "Girlfriend?"

"That's a good question."

"Ah, no labels. Smart." He tilts Percy's head up, and then brushes Percy's fringe to the side. "We've all been there."

"Are you there with Nico?"

Percy swears he actually sees Will blush. "He told you?"

"I worked it out."

"Oh. I thought we were being sly."

"The two of you wouldn't know sly if it hit you with a bus. After you both emerged from that dressing room a while back Nico was in a daze for the rest of the day."

Percy can sense his smile. "Oh."

Will works for a while in quiet, Percy texting Annabeth back. After a small pause, he says, "You should call her."

"Huh?"

"This girl? Call her."

"Now?"

"Why not?"

"Because– it's weird?"

"Nonsense. You look all lovesick. It'll do you some good to see her face."

It's a fair point. Percy shrugs and opens up FaceTime, clicking on Annabeth's contact. As he holds his phone up to his face, he realises just how daft he looks. He's got his hair teased absolutely everywhere and Will is working like a madman on it, and in the background there's just a metal rack completely covered in clothes.

Oh well. Annabeth has seen worse.

She picks up on the second ring. She looks like she's about to launch into her sunny "hi" as always, until she catches sight of him. "Dear _Lord_ , did you get hit by a train?"

Will almost laughs out loud.

Percy grumbles. "Hello to you, too," he says. "You know, when I have a photoshoot in about half an hour, that's really not the most encouraging thing to hear."

"I'm sure your stylist will make you look all pretty."

"I thought I was pretty before."

"You are. Just– now you look a bit like someone put you through a blender."

"Gee, thanks."

Annabeth laughs. "So, what's happening on your end? Aside from you impending photoshoot, of course."

"Uh, not much. Will's just doing my hair and stuff, and Nico and Thalia are getting changed. We're doing an article, which is pretty exciting, so we're all just preparing for that. You?"

"Not much. Just eating breakfast." She tilts her phone. "Say hi, Piper!"

Piper is slouched on the sofa with a bowl of cereal on her lap. She gives Percy the middle finger.

Annabeth turns the screen back to her. "She's pleased to see you, don't worry," she says. "Jason just told her that his friend Reyna is coming with them to Canada over Christmas, so she's a little jealous."

"No, _listen_ to me," Piper says, lunging and taking the phone. "I have never met Reyna before, and I'm not going to assume that every girl that Jason talks to he's cheating on me with, but he just doesn't even shut up about Reyna! He's always like, Reyna this, Reyna that, did you know Reyna is allergic to peanuts, Reyna has dogs too!, and I'm just so sick of it and I thought Christmas was going to be fun because I'd be going off with him but then it turns out she's coming too?"

Will shakes his head with a smile on his face. "Straight people," he mutters.

Piper scowls at him. "Who even are you?"

Annabeth seizes her phone. "Well," she says, a little too brightly. "Now you're all caught up with the drama."

"Tell Thalia to keep her brother in line!" Piper shouts off-screen. "But to do it subtly so he doesn't think I've been complaining to you about everything!"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Sorry about all that."

"No, don't worry." He glances over the top of his phone to see Thalia and Nico come in, both fully dressed. "Oh, you guys look nice."

"Who're you talking to?" Nico asks.

"Annabeth."

"Hey Annabeth!"

"Hey!" Annabeth calls. She smiles at Percy, one cheek dimpling. "Is this a bad time?"

"I was the one who called you."

"You have bad timing with almost everything."

Across the room, Thalia snorts.

"That's not true," Percy says weakly. "But, um. I'll call you back later, okay? We need to get ready."

"'Course," she says. "Bye!"

"Bye."

* * *

The article, on a whole, actually goes pretty well.

The photographer is nice and considerate, and the man interviewing them is called Chris and he's also nice and considerate. He shakes all their hands and acts very professional, which is really refreshing (unlike their previous interviewer, you know) and all of his questions are really nice. They do the photoshoot at the beginning, the three of them lounging all over various pieces of furniture, and then when the interview starts the photographer just runs around with his camera, taking pictures of them making tea, laughing, leaning against each other, answering questions, pulling stupid faces. It's a really nice interview, and Percy is completely relaxed.

"So, as you know," Chris says, "Christmas is coming up."

Thalia groans. "It's begun."

"Thalia is a bit of a Grinch," Nico explains. Percy takes a sip of his tea and he hears the click of a shutter. "She hates Christmas."

"I don't hate it, I just think the amount of effort some people go to is a little unnecessary."

Chris laughs. "I was going to ask what you were planning to do for it."

"Oh," Thalia says. "Well, we always spend it with Percy's mom in New York. She makes the best food, and it's always actually pretty fun."

Nico mock-gasps. "You've defrosted her!"

She sticks out of her tongue and Percy laughs. The photographer takes another picture.

"Shut up," Thalia says.

"What's your favourite part of Christmas?" Chris asks.

"Everything!" Percy says. "My mom makes really good mince pies and I like buying everyone presents. But actually, I think it was a year or two ago, we decided – the three of us – that we wouldn't do presents between each other."

"Why?"

"Because the fact that they're with me is simply enough," Percy jokes, and Nico chokes on his tea.

"Actually," Thalia corrects, "it's because we practically live in each other's back pockets. And it's not a bad thing at all, because if it was that big of a deal we wouldn't live with each other, but we see so much of each other a) it would be almost impossible trying to sneakily buy each other anything and b) it just seems unnecessary. Like, why should I buy presents for the people who nearly gassed me to death with their toxic farts?"

"My farts aren't that bad.

"Yes they are."

Chris laughs. "Do you have any special traditions for this time of year?"

"We have lots," Percy says. "At my mom's house we all watch a movie together with hot chocolate, and then when we're back at ours for New Year's we all get in our pajamas and sleep in the same bed so we can wake up together for the new year."

Thalia buries her face in her hands. "It sounds so cheesy when you say it like that. It's not actually that sappy."

"Yes it is," Nico says. "We all cram inside Thalia's bed and when we wake up we dance around holding hands rejoicing how excellent the year before has been."

"We _definitely_ don't do that."

"That's true," Nico admits. "But still. We do have lots of traditions and they're very fun."

The rest of the interview goes smoothly. Percy is almost sad when it ends because of how nice it all was. He felt like Chris was genuinely interested in what they had to say and the photographer wasn't invasive or anything, just hovered around like a harmless butterfly with his camera.

It was really lovely. Percy watches almost wistfully as they pack up their equipment and thank Mr D and then leave.

Mr D leaves quite soon afterwards, after a disgusted look around their untidied apartment. Percy knows he's going to be receiving a mouthful tomorrow but he doesn't care, instead opting to collapse on the sofa. Thalia and Nico join him.

And then: "We should invite Annabeth for Christmas," Thalia says.

Percy glances at her. "Really?"

"Why not? Sally's dying to meet her. She's been texting me non-stop about this pretty blonde girl you've been seen out with a lot, and you two are practically dating, too."

"Well–"

"That wasn't an invitation to tell me about it," Thalia says. "I don't actually care. But even if you _aren't_ dating, she's our friend too, isn't she? It'll be fun.

"But– _Christmas_?"

"It'll be fun," Nico says. "Besides, Piper was heading up to Canada with Jason, right? She'd be all alone, and it's simply awful to be alone for Christmas."

"I guess."

"I'll text Sally," Thalia says. "Ask her if it's okay. And if she says yes, then we are calling Annabeth and we're going to ask her right here and now." She stabs out a message on her phone and sends it off, resting it on her stomach. "For now, we wait."

As it turns out, they only have to wait a few minutes. Sally texts back almost immediately, with a _yes yes yes!_ and several heart emojis (Percy loves his mom), and as soon as the text comes through Thalia is scrolling through her contacts and selecting Annabeth's.

"We should video-call her," Nico says. "It'll make it less intimidating."

"Good point." Thalia clicks video call and holds it up to her face, squishing everyone together so they can all fit into the frame. It only rings a few times before Annabeth picks up.

"Oh, hey, whole clan together!"

"Annabeth," Thalia says very seriously. "We have an important question to ask."

Annabeth, bless her good kind beautiful soul, looks a little taken aback. "Um."

"We were wondering," Nico butts in, "if you would like to spend Christmas with us and Percy's mom in New York this year."

Annabeth looks stunned. "What?"

"Yeah!" he says. "It'll be fun, we promise. And Percy told us how Piper's not gonna be home, so you'll be all alone, and you're, like, one of us! We can't have you alone for Christmas!"  
"I mean... I really don't want to intrude..."

"Nonsense," Thalia says. "We just asked Sally, she said yes. She's so excited to you. You and Percy have been all over the tabloids, and she's been sucking them all up. Honestly, she can't wait."

Annabeth looks hesitant. "I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful, but it's a family thing, and I don't want to invade or anything."

"You wouldn't be invading," Percy says. "Honest. Mom wants you there. We also want you there."

"Aunt Sally always does the best turkey," Nico agrees. "It'd be a massive shame to miss it."

Gradually, Annabeth begins to look less and less uncomfortable. She shifts. "I mean. If it's not a problem, then, sure."

Nico whoops. "Yes!"

"This is going to be so awesome," Thalia tells her. "You'll experience a true Jackson Christmas. Sally is so wonderful, you'll love her."

Annabeth smiles, and then she meets Percy's eyes, and he smiles back.

It's just turned October but he kind of can't wait for Christmas.

* * *

 **A/N listen i am aware i didn't sync this correctly but it's december so technically every day is christmas**

 **anyway! first off happy winter! i know it was december last week too but now it feels like it's really sunken in. like wow, it's nearly christmas. here in england it's bitterly cold but according to my baes helena and rachel (GollyGeeWhiz and TheWritingManiac check them out they're both great) it's been snowing in their parts of the world so i hope you guys also get snow! we probably wont because it hasn't snowed in years but i shall remain optimistic that we will get a pretty white christmas**

 **also can i just say? I got FORTY reviews last chapter? um how crazy are you guys wow I love you so so much that's literally utterly bats i;ve never gotten so many reviews on one chapter before this is absolutely crazy**

 **and also also a little side-note for all of you who do not know i have a story called ispy that i finished in around july (?) and it just reached 500 reviews! so thank you ever so much for that it's really lovely to know that even though it's over and ended you guys still are lovely enoughto review so honestly thank you guys just so so much**

 **(also pssst to the guest who asked for book recommendations 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough is such a good book holy crap it's something i aspire to write like one day. if you like books that really twist with your head then this is the book for you trust me the synopsis does nOTHING JUSTICE it's so so good)**

 **anyway that's all i really have for today! sorry this chapter wasn't much percabeth i can assure you next chapter will be so gross and yucky and fluffy that you will want to pull your eyes out so there's that to look forward to. i really hope you guys liked this chapter, it's one of my longest yet (woot 5k wirds here i come) so i really hope you enjoy!**

 **please tell me what you thought and i shall see you next saturday! byee xx**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

"I've got a feeling this year's for you and me  
So happy Christmas, I love you, baby"

\- Fairytale Of New York, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

* * *

It's snowing when they step off the plane.

Percy had already known because he'd looked out the plane windows and seen the entirety of New York blanketed in snow and had smiled so wide his cheeks hurt, but he thinks walking into an airport and seeing it falling through the massive glass windows is so, so entirely different. It takes everything in him as well as their bodyguard Pete to stop himself from flinging himself outdoors and make snow angels right then and there, on the street.

"That's not a good idea," Pete says. "You could get a chill."

"Or arrested," Thalia says. "Which has already happened once this year, so I'd prefer you wait until after New Year's Day to get arrested again."

Percy pouts a bit but then he remembers in less than two hours he's going to be with his mom and in less than forty-eight he's going to be with his mom _and_ _Annabeth_ so he cheers up considerably.

They get stopped several times making their way out the airport. Nico's suitcase opens in the middle of it so they all have to stop and shuffle and groan as Nico hurriedly shoves everything back in, and then because they're loitering in rather plain sight they have some girls tentatively waddle over and shyly ask for pictures, which is honestly no stress because Percy loves meeting fans, but then when one of them politely asks about Nico's whereabouts Nico resurfaces almost immediately from where he was crouched behind them with one of Thalia's bras in his hands because when you're on tour clothes often get tossed around and generally packing suitcases is just a matter of getting all clothes in some bag and not picking through the logistics of exactly whose clothes end where, and it's just extremely indelicate and also pretty embarrassing for, well, all of them, so they finish that encounter as quickly as they can and practically sprint for the doors.

They hail a taxi to Sally's apartment block. It's only an hour drive but Percy didn't sleep a wink last night because some boys who lived down the street from them back in LA decided it would be hilarious to set off fireworks and then get arrested, which kept him up most the night, so he decides the most practical thing to do is have a quick nap. He pulls a fuzzy sweater from out his suitcase as the cabbie is loading it into the boot.

Just as he's pulling it over his head, the cabbie tilts his head. "Say," he says. "You look familiar. You famous or something?"

Percy shakes his head. "Nope."

"Not even a bit? You look a bit like that guy from that band."

"I get that a lot," Percy says.

They pile into the taxi, all three of them, and the cabbie starts to drive. Percy gets the window seat because he's good with his elbows and he only needs to prod his bandmates a few times for them to whine, "oh my _God_ , fine, whatever, take it, _I don't_ _care_ " and with a beam of triumph he settles against the door with his comfy jumper and leans his head against it, closing his eyes.

"You aren't falling asleep, are you?" Thalia whispers.

"I would be if you weren't breathing all over me."

Thalia blows air all over his face and he swats at her without opening his eyes.

"You can't be asleep now, Perce. We need you up and ready so we can set up the tree and whatnot."

"Exactly, so I need a few minutes doze before then."

"It's not a very long drive," Nico says. "I hope you realise."

"The longer you both spend nattering and keeping me up the grumpier I am by the time we get to Mom's so I'd take some wise advice and kindly shut up, if you will."

They both grumble and fidget a bit but eventually they settle down and Percy can finally have that nice nap.

They arrive at Sally's at around three in the afternoon. Nico gently shakes Percy awake and, still a little dazed, Percy clambers out of the car and stumbles onto the street. Thalia pays the cabbie as they both haul their bags out the back, and then the cab speeds away and it all just dawns on Percy that he's here.

He hasn't seen his mom in months, and he's beginning to get stupidly excited. Ever since the band became a thing, Percy made it his soul mission to make sure to never, ever forget about his mom. In fact, for the first year or so, when they were all sixteen and stupid and had no idea about taxes, Sally actually came on tour with them. But now they're all a bit older and they're all capable of driving she doesn't, anymore, and this is the longest Percy has ever gone without seeing her.

Sue him, okay. He's nineteen and in a band and he sometimes wears leather jackets and he loves his mom to the end of this world.

They all troop indoors, with their bags. The doorman doesn't look bothered in the slightest that one of the biggest bands in the world just walked through – in fact, he seems quite bored. Percy doesn't mind. It's actually quite nice to be boring for once.

"What number is she, again?" Thalia asks.

"Thirty-eight," Percy says. "Come on, we need to take the stairs."

Nico is rather difficult at first, because "we're _celebrities_ , Percy, just ask them to let us use the elevator, come on, please, I'm not carrying my bag up three flights of stairs", but with a bit of persuasion and the promise of him sleeping in the bed for the first night as opposed to the floor with in a sleeping bag, they eventually get moving.

"You'd think for a dude who drums for over two hours a day I'd have even a little upper body strength," Nico mutters, as he hauls his bag over another step. "Apparently not."

"Maybe it's my bra," Thalia tells him. "That could be weighing it done."

Percy chokes with laughter and almost drops his suitcase.

"Will you just leave it?" Nico asks indignantly. "I get it, I was embarrassing in public, what else is new? Besides, it's not as if I did in front of the Queen or anything. It was just a couple of fans. They probably thought it was hilarious."

"Well," Percy says. "You certainly did make it a celebrity encounter they won't forget."

"Please," Nico says. "Even without the bra it would have been a celebrity encounter they wouldn't forget." He winks lewdly and then almost falls headfirst down the stairs when one of the wheels of his suitcase catches on a step.

"Nico, you're gay," Thalia says. "And you have a boyfriend."

"That is true. However, it's not as if I'm going to tell some girls off for admiring me, right?"

Thalia rolls her eyes.

By the time they reach Sally's apartment, they're all sweaty and out of breath. It's been a while since they were onstage, since they're on their break now, and Percy can almost feel the effects. He used to be able to gallivant around a stage for hours on end, holding a heavy guitar, singing as hard as he dared, and sure, he used to sweat buckets, but he'd feel high, exhilarated. Now he just feels – tired.

He probably should have taken up Mr D's offer of a personal trainer. Would've done him some good, he reckons.

He digs his key out of his back pocket, where he had safely deposited it before the flight, and slides it into the lock. The door clicks open and he pushes it with his shoulder, stumbling into the entranceway. "Mom?"

"Percy?"

Sally appears around from the living room. She's wearing a nice blue sweater and jeans and Percy suddenly remembers how much he missed her.

"Mom, hey!"

"Oh, my babies!" Sally runs down the hallway and envelopes Percy in a massive hug, pressing kisses across his face. Before he can even do so much as hug her back she lets go of him and moves onto Thalia and Nico, wrapping them both in a hug, too. She's in no means short but Percy thinks their tour diet of crappy catering and Indian takeout has done something to their genes and made them shoot up, so she only comes up to their chins.

"I've missed you all so much!" Sally pulls back and beams at all of them. Not much has changed since Percy last saw her, except her face has more lines and her hair is longer. She turns to Percy and gives him a light swat. "Your promised you'd call me, my boy."

"Sorry, ma."

"Well, you're all here now," Sally says. "So I suppose it's all alright. Next time, though. Don't forget about me, I had to follow lots of The Demigods update accounts to know what my babies were up to."

"A lot of it isn't true," Nico says quickly.

"I'm sure it's not." Sally smiles at them all. "I've already got your rooms set up. Boys, you'll be taking Percy's old room, is that okay? There's the bed and then I've put a mattress on the floor with a sleeping bag on it, so you can sort it out between yourself who sleeps where. Thalia, my love, you'll be sharing with me, and your lovely friend Annabeth can stay on the sofa bed in the living room." She looks at Percy. "Speaking of, Percy, my dear, when did you say she was arriving?"

"Uh." Percy chews his lip. "Tomorrow, I think. But really late. So technically the day after me, because apparently her plane touches down at eleven thirty pm, so she'll arrive at like two am."

"But don't you worry about having to stay up for her or anything," Thalia says. "I'm sure Percy's already got that covered."

"Yeah, Percy," Nico says, with a smirk. "But just remember, we're sharing a room. If you try any funny business while I'm there I'll livestream it on Instagram."

Percy rolls his eyes. They think they're all so hilarious.

Sally smiles good-naturedly and pats Percy on the bottom. "Well, I'm very glad you all invited her. I've been meaning to ask you about her for a while now, so it'll be nice to speak to her for real. All the update accounts have been saying a lot about the two of you, Percy, love."

Percy turns red. "Yeah, well. They may not be necessarily true, either."

"But they are, what a shame," Thalia says. "Can I dump my bags in your room, Sally? I need to have a shower, I feel revolting."

"Feel free, my love," Sally says, pressing a kiss to her temple. She looks at Nico and Percy as Thalia pads away. "You boys should probably go freshen up, too. I was just doing a bit of reading but because it's nearly Christmas I thought I'd watch a movie with all my babies and see what's been happening since we last spoke."

"Sounds good," Nico says. "When's dinner?"

Sally swats at him. "Patience, boy."

"It was an honest question!" Nico says, as he follows her down the hallway. "I'm a hungry boy!"

* * *

It's three-thirty am when Percy's phone pings with a text notification.

 **Annabeth** : im outside

He smiles and pads down the hallway, reaching the end and opening the door. She's standing outside, snowflakes caught in her hair, with a bashful smile. It's pitch black outside because of how late it is, and the only light is the watery light of the moon and Annabeth's phone in her hand, but Percy feels like she has never been more beautiful. Here's one of the best girls he's ever known in his childhood home with snow on her eyelashes and her fingernails painted blue, ready to spend Christmas with him and his family, and he's never been so happy.

"Hey," Annabeth whispers.

"Hey," Percy whispers back. "You wanna come in?"

"That would be quite nice."

He lets out a small laugh and steps back, letting her come in and helping her with her bag. She pauses at the mass of photo frames Sally has hanging in the entranceway. Percy comes and stands by her shoulder.

"This is cute," she says.

"That's 'cause I'm on it," he says, and she gently elbows him in the stomach.

She steps closer and carefully traces her fingers over one of the pictures. That one is personally one of Percy's favourites – it was only a couple of months after the three of them had realised they were cousins. Behind their fathers' backs, Sally had taken them all in over spring break, and it was then that she had unofficially adopted Thalia and Nico as her own children. They must be about twelve, and they're all sitting on the sofa. Thalia has toothpaste blobs all over her acne and Nico's wearing Ninja Turtles pajamas, and they're all laughing. Percy kind of loves it, because that was the first picture the three of them had been in together that was full of love. The others were scary family portraits with the dozens of other cousins they haven't heard from since and all their dads, in their suits, with their dark eyes.

Annabeth smiles softly. "You guys are really close, aren't you?"

"Kind of, yeah. They're like my actual siblings."

Annabeth looks at him with something he can't quite describe in her eyes, and doesn't say anything else. Before he does something stupid like kiss her again, he takes the handle of her suitcase and they head into the living room together.

Her sofa bed is already set up – Sally had done it the night before. Percy had been perched on one of bar stools, with the TV playing softly in the background. He hadn't really been paying much attention it, really, just been absently flicking through Twitter on his phone, somewhat dreamily switching between the TV and his phone. It's still on – he hadn't switched it off. It's playing some old black and white rom-com from 1960s that Percy doesn't really recognise. It's all background noise, anyway.

Annabeth sits at the end of the sofa bed and stretches. She looks so small like this, in her reindeer socks ("very appropriate" "thanks, I found them in a dollar bin") and Hogwarts T-shirt, that Percy kind of wants to aggressively cuddle her until they're both old and grey but since that probably wouldn't be very happily accepted he just bites his tongue and stares at his feet.

Annabeth pats the mattress either side of her. "Nice bed."

"It's my mom's."

"I gathered that." Annabeth's mischievous smile fades into something softer, more genuine, that does something funny to Percy's heart. "Hey, um. Thanks. For doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Inviting me around for Christmas. And stuff. It's – really nice that you would think to do that."

Percy doesn't even bother making a joke. He smiles back. "It's okay. I– I mean, I kinda wanted you here, anyway. Just wasn't sure if it was too soon or anything."

"Well. I'm here now."

"Yeah."

The darkness seems to expand. Outside, it keeps snowing.

Suddenly, Percy realises quite how late it is. "Hey, um," he says. "I, uh. Best be off to bed. It's Christmas tomorrow, you know. Want to get a good night's sleep."

"Right. Yeah, you go, I should do the same."

"Bathroom's down the hall," he says. "And my bedroom is next door, just in case you get scared during the night and need snuggles."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Duly noted."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Beth."

"You too, Percy. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

* * *

Percy wakes up the next morning with a funny feeling in his chest. He can't quite remember what it is until he glances out the window and sees the snow and then: "oh, it's Christmas."

" _No_ ," Nico says in what Percy thinks is a mock-gasp, only it's quite hard to tell because he's speaking completely deadpan. Percy turns around to see him with his laptop on his knees in his bed. He's not looking away from the screen. "I thought it was the 4th of July."

"Oh, shut up, I just forgot." Percy crawls out of the sleeping bag and looks out the window. "Wow, it really snowed! The entire city is like– white."

Nico starts warbling a very off-key rendition of White Christmas and Percy throws a pillow at him to shut him up. This only encourages Nico to sing louder and Percy has to climb onto his bed and wrestle him to the ground. Nico keeps singing so Percy tries to yank his shirt off and shove it in his mouth, but when he tries Nico nearly throttles him by accident and just _keeps_ _going_.

"Will you two wombats please _shut up_?"

It's Thalia. Both boys look up and see her standing in the doorway, her makeup smudged around her eyes and her hair like a beach ball around her head. She looks just as pleased as Percy feels, which is not very festive at all, and she's glaring at them so angrily if looks could kill they'd most certainly be dead.

"It's seven in the morning!" she snaps. "Do you have any respect for the other people in this house?"

"Thalia!" Nico says merrily from underneath Percy, like she hasn't even spoken. "It's Christmas, isn't it wonderful?"

This only seems to get Thalia even angrier. Finally Nico realises what buttons he's pushed and just how severely he's pushed them because that's when he starts looking afraid. "Joy to the world!" he quickly stammers out. "Peace on earth!"

"I'd need some peace around her," she mutters. "Honestly. What are you two even fighting about it this early? How have you already managed to piss each other off?"

"He keeps trying to seduce me with Christmas carols," Percy says. "My ears will bleed if he sings any more."

Thalia scowls at them both. "That doesn't mean you should wake us up at arse o'clock."

"You'd be fighting for your life if he started singing Christmas carols to you, too."

"Hey," Nico says.

"Whatever," Thalia says. She turns on her heel. "I'm going back to sleep. Don't wake me up until it's ten."

* * *

Christmas dinner is _incredible_.

Sally, unsurprisingly, cooks up a storm. They have a turkey and Yorkshire pudding and gravy and coffee and potatoes and cinnamon rolls and a salad that no one touches and there are Christmas crackers and some old school carols on the crackly radio in the background, and the entire room smells of pine from the tree and Thalia manages to pour orange squash down her shirt and Sally properly falls in love with Annabeth and the entire atmosphere is just so lovely Percy doesn't ever want to leave.

"All these jokes are awful," Nico says, chucking one of small paper slips over his shoulder.

"Here, I have one," Annabeth says. She squints as she tries to read it. "Who doesn't get to enjoy Christmas?"

"Who?" Thalia asks.

"The turkey." Annabeth frowns. "That's dark for Christmas."

"It's better than mine, in any case," Thalia says. "What's the difference between a snow man and a snow lady, snow balls, har-dee-har, what a joke." She crumbles up the piece of paper and drops it at her feet. "These are all quite awful."

"That's what makes it Christmas," Percy says primly. "Here, does anyone want a tiny plastic protractor?"

"No thanks," Nico says. "I'm quite fine with my thimble over here."

Annabeth laughs, and her flimsy paper crown slips down a little, covering her face. Percy almost instinctively reaches over to fix it, before realizing that they're not actually properly dating and that's quite a boyfriend-y thing to do, and also that his mother and two cousins are in the room. He manages to turn it into a suave move for the potatoes, and loads an extra spoonful onto his plate, even though he's already got mountains of potatoes there already.

"Annabeth," Sally says, and yep, there it is. Annabeth lifts her crown out of her eyes and pushes back a golden curl at the same time and Percy is so grossly in love wow. "Thank you for coming around this year, it's been so wonderful."

"Thank you for having me!" Annabeth says. "Honestly, it's– this has been one of my best Christmases ever. I would have been by myself this year if you guys hadn't stepped in, so thank you so much"

"Oh, why?" Sally asks.

"My roommate is going to Canada with her boyfriend for the holidays," Annabeth says.

"Jason," Thalia supplies, through a mouthful of pie.

"How's that going, actually?" Percy asks.

"Not hideously. Piper is trying to keep her jealousy at bay. Apparently this Reyna is very nice, though."

"As long as no blood's been spilt, that's all I care about," Thalia says.

"Yeah," Nico says. "I've only just discovered Jason's still alive, it'd be awful if he died again before I could get to know him."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

Sally tries to swiftly change the subject. "So," she says. "Percy tells me you're a YouTuber?"

Annabeth nods. "That I am."

"Is that your career?"

"Yep. It's pretty cool, if I'm being honest. I get complete creative control over all the content that I'm putting out to the world and I make money off doing what I love, so I'm pretty lucky to be doing what I'm doing."

"You should be vlogging now," Thalia says dryly. "Think of dem _hits_."

Annabeth laughs. "I think I might just keep this one to myself," she says with a smile, and Percy's heart absolutely _swells_.

They pack up for dinner and they all help with the washing up. Nico is set on scrubbing duty and Sally and Annabeth dry, which gives Annabeth more opportunities to worm her way further and further into Sally's heart. As Percy loads the leftovers into the fridge he can't help but glancing back at the two of them, three, including Thalia, who's perched on the counter doing nothing but providing mindless chatter, and his heart warms a little because it's all his favourite girls in one place together and wow he's really in love snap _out_ of it Perce.

They end the evening with a movie. Percy ends up between Nico and Annabeth, and halfway through the movie he feels Nico drop off, collapsing unattractively against his side with a loud snore, and then only minutes later Annabeth falls asleep too, on his other side, but she's prettier and smells nicer, so Percy appreciates it more. He even dares tentatively put his arm around her, and as soon as he rests it over her shoulder she tenses up and he almost smacks himself because are you _serious_ Jackson, but a second later she relaxes and wriggles even deeper into Percy's side, with a contented hum.

Her curls tickle his chin and Nico snores on his other side and there's really no place he'd rather be.

The movie ends at around eleven. As soon as the credits roll, Sally stands up and presses a kiss to everyone's forehead, even Annabeth's, and then heads off to bed, and even though Thalia insists her sleep stamina is stronger than that after a few minutes she retires to the bedroom, too. Nico is still asleep but it only takes a few well-placed prods in the side to get him up and stumbling to their bedroom, mumbling crossly about respect and the bro code, and then it's just Percy and Annabeth left.

Annabeth is still asleep. For a second, Percy considers just leaving her, unfolding the sofa bed, laying her down, and then going off with Nico to sleep, but then the stupid part of his mind wins, as it often does, and he gently shakes her awake.

"Annabeth?"

"Mm?" Drowsily, she blinks herself awake. Her eyes are brilliant up close, and in the darkness they look almost purple.

"Come on, I want to show you something."

She sits up and stretches, rubbing her eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah."

"How embarrassing." She yawns and then looks at Percy. She's still lagging a few seconds behind, still waking up a bit, but she's alert. "Do I need shoes?"

"You do indeed. Come on, let's go get them."

They both pull on their sneakers and then together, they slip out the front door. They're still inside but it's significantly colder here, and Annabeth shivers in her thin sweater. Percy almost considers going back inside and getting coats, because they will be going outside, and pajama pants and Converse aren't exactly the best against snow, but he decides against it. It'll only be for a bit.

"Now I'm awake," Annabeth whispers. "Gosh, it's bloody freezing."

Percy smiles. "Come on, it's not that far."

He leads her up the next two flights of stairs, until they come to a fire exit. Annabeth looks worried but Percy ignores her, pushing it open and sliding through. Annabeth still looks a little tentative, but she follows him nonetheless, through a small corridor and then up a ladder, until they come to the fire escape.

Annabeth gasps when they get to the edge.

A smile tugs at Percy's lips. He knew she'd like this. From here, you can see almost all of New York, big and sprawling and covered in snow. The sky is black and the skyscrapers stick up like charcoal-coloured toothpicks, but the snow softens it all, makes it all glitter. Percy has learnt that the prettiest time to be here is sunset, because the sky is orange and the windows sparkle against the sky, but this must be a close second.

But today he's not looking at the view. He's looking at Annabeth.

"Percy, this is beautiful!" Annabeth gushes. "How on earth did you find this?"

"It's a fire escape, not a portal."

Annabeth elbows him. "Shut up."

Percy laughs. "I was quite a fan of exploring when we first moved here. Also liked to break some rules sometimes, too."

Annabeth whirls on him. "Wait, we're not meant to be here?"

"Probably not."

"Percy!"

"What? I've never been caught before."

" _So_!"

"Liven up, Annabeth. It's not like we're strictly trespassing, my mom lives here. And anyway. It's Christmas. Even if someone did catch us, they'd probably let us off scot-free. They can't be cross to us on Christmas."

Annabeth checks her phone. "There's twenty minutes until it's not."

"We'd still be in the Christmas spirit," Percy says. "Relax, no one will catch us."

Annabeth doesn't seem any more pleased but she doesn't say anymore. Instead, she sighs and leans against the railing, staring wistfully out at the city. "You wouldn't mind if I took a photo, would you?" she asks.

"Of me?"

"The view."

"Well, that's disappointing. But sure, go ahead."

Annabeth gives him a funny little look that has him laughing a bit, and then pulls her phone out of her pocket and opening up her camera. It opens on the front camera and Percy catches a glance of the two of them, in their pajamas, slightly fuzzy because of the dark. Annabeth seems to sense his thought process because she rolls her eyes and says, "well, come on, then."

He grins and comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up, pressing a kiss to her cheek. He's not quite sure where the confidence came from, but he's glad he did it, because right at that moment Annabeth's finger hits the 'capture' button and then the photo is taken, forever frozen in time, of him kissing her cheek on a freezing cold fire escape in the middle of New York.

They both stare at the photo for a long time, and then Annabeth looks up at him. Suddenly, it all just seems a bit too much and Percy can feel his heart in his throat.

"Annabeth," he says. "I'm going to kiss you now."

He's expecting something like last time to happen. He's expecting her to shy away, or fidget, or duck her head and disappear back inside. But he's not expecting her to jut her chin out and look at him straight in the eyes with a mischievous look on her face. "Well?" she challenges, and because she can't just say something like that in that voice he surges forwards and kisses her.

It's even better than last time because finally, she kisses him back. It's bitterly cold and Percy can feel his fingers go slightly numb, and this kiss is simple and sweet, and Annabeth's icy hands are resting somewhere on his neck, but it's really perfect, and when they pull away he's smiling so much he probably looks like a massive nerd.

It's okay, though, because Annabeth's the exact same.

"That was okay, wasn't it?" he asks in a quiet voice. It's like if he speaks any louder they both might break.

Annabeth huffs out a laugh. "It was perfect."

"Good, good." He pauses. "You think we can do it again?"

" _Now_ , you greedy animal?"

"Not now. Although that would be fun." He nudges his nose against hers. "I mean, like. A lot. Like an exclusive thing."

"Exclusive."

"Yeah. Like. Dating exclusive."

"You're feeling brave tonight," Annabeth says.

"Have to when there's a pretty girl in front of me."

She giggles a little and pokes his Adam's apple. "You nerd."

"That's your potential boyfriend you're insulting there."

She slings her arms around his neck. "You think we should date?"

"Totally. Make it Instagram exclusive and everything."

She looks like she's thinking about it, and then she smiles. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, boyfriend." She kisses the tip of his nose. "We're dating now."

"I think we might need to seal it with a kiss," Percy says, because he can. "Just so it's genuine."

Annabeth laughs at him but she kisses him again and he feels his toes curl in his sneakers, and it's not from the cold this time. They separate and a curl from her ponytail falls in her face, and because he's now her boyfriend he tucks it behind her ear for her. She beams at him, and then suddenly Percy notices little white specks falling from the sky.

"Hey," he says. "It's started to snow again."

They both look up. It has.

Annabeth looks back down at him and smiles. "Merry Christmas, Percy," she says.

"Merry Christmas, Annabeth."

* * *

 **A/N I know it would have been more seasonally appropriate to have this chapter be next week, seeing as next week Saturday is the day before Christmas eve but whatever am i right**

 **anyway! hey guys, how are we all! i hope we're all grand and good. a lot of you had similar thoughts with me about the snow but i have some good news so GUESS WHAT**

 **literally the next day after i uploaded the last chapter (as in the chapter where i had been complaining about our lack of snow) IT SNOWED! like actual snow! there was enough snow for it to even set too! i was so excited. that's such an odd coincidence too but im so happy it happened because we got snow wooo!**

 **anyway, thank you guys so much for 260 reviews! that's crazy you guys are the absolute best. i hope you enjoyed this chapter, i tried to make it as adorable as possible.**

 **(also actual percabeth kiss too but who cares about that it's the snow that's more important)**

 **a thank you to helena who reminded me what food normal people eat on christmas and also to you guys for being splendid! i love you all and have a wonderful week! please tell me what you thought and i shall see you on saturday byee! xx**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

"All that you are is all that I'll ever need"

\- Tenerife Sea, Ed Sheeran

* * *

They all fly back to Los Angeles together.

Sally gives them all a big hug goodbye and Percy admittedly does tear up a little. He makes sure to go last so he can cling onto her for just those few extra seconds, and they grip onto each other embarrassingly tight in the middle of the airport. Percy is certain he hears the shutter of a camera go off, and they do get a few double takes, probably because of the whole 'famous' thing (no one approaches them, though, which Percy is tremendously grateful for, because he's clinging to his mom with tears in his eyes and that's not really great for anyone's street cred), but he doesn't really care.

Eventually, Sally pulls away, and thumbs at his cheek. "Be good, okay?" she says. "Don't get into any trouble."

He smiles, wetly. "No promises."

She rolls her eyes. "Don't cheek me, I'm looking out for you."

"Sorry, ma."

"It's all right, my love." She smiles at him. "Take good care of Annabeth, all right?"

Suddenly, Percy's cheeks flame. "I–"

"I'm your mother, Percy," Sally says. "I know when my boy's in love. And I'm happy for you. She seems like she'll be a good fit for you."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Sally doesn't respond to that. Instead, she slides her hand from his cheek to his shoulder and squeezes it. "Just look after her," she says. "You don't want to let a girl like that go. Your world is tricky, Percy. You two need to be careful."

"We will."

"Good." She gives him one last smile, soft and motherly. Percy's heart hurts. "Well, you've got a plane to catch. Be safe."

"Thanks, Mom." Percy shoulders his rucksack and starts to back away. "I love you."

"I love you too, Percy."

He gives her one last smile and then turns around to where Thalia, Nico and Annabeth are standing. They're all wearing sunglasses and Thalia has tucked all her hair into a beanie, so Percy pulls his own sunglasses out of the pocket of his bag and slides them on. It's a bit of an inconvenience, because winter darkens everything considerably and in order to escape the rush and also get cheaper tickets they had booked a plane early in the morning, so now everything is just a little too dark, but Percy supposes it's worth it to have a nice peaceful journey.

"Well," he says. "We ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Thalia says. "Now, come on, I think the voiceover just gave the final call for our plane."

They all head towards one of the exits. Thalia and Nico take the lead, chattering about some random mundane matter, and Percy and Annabeth slightly lag behind. When, from ahead, Nico squawks a pitchy, " _What_?" Annabeth looks up at Percy with a small smile. One of her dimples is showing and her sunglasses make her eyes look like they're from an 1850s sepia photograph. She's smiling at him like he's just said something funny, so he says, "What?"

"Nothing," she says. "You're just nice to look at."

"Oh God." He can feel himself blush again. "Don't– _say_ that."

She laughs. "You're blushing, that's adorable."

"Shut up, no I'm not."

She doesn't bother arguing further, just rolls her eyes, but only moments later he feels her fingers intertwine with his and it makes him feel so irrevocably happy that he can't help but swing their laced hands together like a little kid. Annabeth beams at him.

On the plane, they all get switched off in their pairs. Percy would have quite liked to sit next to Annabeth, but Thalia grabs him before he can and starts gabbling about some new movie that's supposed to come out soon, so reluctantly he slides in the seat next to her. Nico and Annabeth are seated next to each other a couple of rows behind them, but when Percy turns around to give Annabeth an apologetic look he's almost quite hurt to see that she and Nico are already in avid conversation about something or other.

So much for together until the end.

But Percy knows that Thalia has ulterior motives for why she grabbed him for a seat partner other than the new movie. He can see it in her face. And it's proven when a few minutes after takeoff she leans over and the arm rest and looks at Percy in the face.

"So," she says. She lowers her voice considerably. "You and Annabeth, huh?"

Percy squirms happily. "You noticed?"

"Perce, you've been giving her eyes since the day you first saw her. You think I wouldn't notice when you got together?"

"I mean, you didn't notice when I ate the last Pop-Tart."

"Well, I did no– hey, _wait_ , that was _you_?"

Percy's eyes widen. "Um."

"I thought that _Nico_! I didn't talk to him for days!"

"So, me and Annabeth," Percy says hurriedly, trying to change the subject to avoid getting his innards torn out. "We're dating, yes."

Thalia gives him the evil eye, but she reluctantly joins his train of thought. "Since when?"

"Christmas. When all you grandmas went off to bed I showed her the fire escape on the top floor and we– uh."

"Canoodled."

"Kissed. And for real. She didn't push me away. It was consensual on both ends."

"Well, that's reassuring to hear. And _Christmas_? That was, like, four days ago! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you'd make a big deal of it."

"That's because it _is_ a big deal."

"I know, but it's weird if you make it one, because that's basically you congratulating me on managing to successfully kiss her with no awful repercussions, and I don't want you guys knowing my kissing details. You're like my siblings, that's just uncomfortable."

"I've seen you starkers, Percy," Thalia says. "There is literally nothing that I can see or hear about you that will make me uncomfortable."

"You really don't want me to go in detail about how it was like to kiss Annabeth."

"Try me."

Percy clears his throat and puts on an old-fashioned English accent. "Oh, Annabeth, fairest maiden, how fortunate am I to be at mercy of thy lips, like two rose petal blossoms, and thy _tongue_ –!"

"I stand corrected," Thalia says, looking slightly nauseous. "Never ever say that to me again."

"I had a whole sonnet prepared."

"I don't doubt that you did, but for the sake of me and everyone else on this plane I'd ask you to keep it to yourself before I literally start throwing up."

Percy laughs. "All right, then. I won't go into the verse about how it felt to hold her hand and to touch her face, so impossibly _soft_ –"

"I will cut you in half, Percy. She's my friend and you're like my brother. That's _nauseating_."

"You asked for it."

"And I'm sincerely regretting it, too." Thalia leans her head against the back of her seat. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy you both got your crap together and are now merrily in love and whatnot, but my feelings won't be hurt if you spare me some of the more– _icky_ details."

Percy laughs again and repeats a phrase he said to his mom. "No promises."

"No, there better be promises, because if you do I'll turn you inside out."

"You can't do that," Percy says. "I'm the lead singer, you need me."

"Not really," Nico calls from a few rows back. Percy cranes his neck and sees the passengers sitting in the seats in the rows between them looking either increasing fed-up or amused. Or both. "There are lots of good Percy Jackson impersonators out there. Some are a lot more talented than you are."

"Nothing beats the original."

"That sounds like something a whiny original would say."

Someone sitting directly behind him lets out a barely-there laugh that they hurriedly disguise as a cough. Percy pouts and turns around to face the front. "Whatever," he grumbles, seemingly to himself. "At least people would notice. Nico doesn't even just sing, he just screws around on the drums. No one would notice if he disappeared."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

The plane rolls in a couple of hours later. Annabeth managed to miraculously sleep through the entire thing, which Percy had originally made fun of her for, until they all had to stumble into the airport and he was completely dead on his feet. Sleeping only four hours that night had not done him well. Thalia and Nico are in similar situations to him – in fact, Nico is so tired he manages to doze off standing up.

Annabeth, on the other hand, is dancing around like she's got all the energy in the world. Which she probably does. She was the only one out of the four of them to go to college. It made her a lot smarter.

"Come on, we need to check our bags out," she says.

Thalia knuckles half-heartedly at her eyes. "As soon as get home I'm napping."

"And in order to do that, we need to check our bags out," Annabeth says. "Come on."

She practically skips away. Thalia eyes her retreating back sleepily. "She's turning into one of you," she mumbles. "I knew I shouldn't have let you two date."

"Date?" Nico asks, but before Percy can answer he's already dozed off on his shoulder. Percy just wraps an arm around his waist so he doesn't collapse and slide to the floor. The paparazzi are even more vicious in Los Angeles than they are in New York. Knowing them, there's already a camera out.

Percy will be avidly awaiting headlines. He can't wait to forward all of them to Nico.

Annabeth comes back with all their bags. Percy almost proposes to her right there, but he reckons if he gets down on one knee he might not be able to get back up because he's so tired so instead he just presses his fingers to her shoulder and hopes that conveys his gratitude. When she turns around and gives him a close-lipped, sparkly-eyed smile he knows that it does.

"I take back everything," Thalia says. "You're an angel, thank you so much."

Annabeth preens. "I know."

They all pick up their bags, and then quickly dart into an airport café and get overpriced coffee in Styrofoam so Nico doesn't literally drop dead right then and there. Then, they head out the front, where there's a stream of taxis. Percy perches by the waiting bay with Nico next to him, still sipping his coffee (it tastes foul, but it's apparently pumped with so much caffeine it could keep someone awake for an entire week, and considering Nico was borderline death it was quite necessary), and Annabeth and Thalia talk a couple of feet away.

Nico takes another sip. "So," he says. "You're finally dating, huh."

"Yeah."

"Good. I was sick of you two pining." Another sip. "This tastes gross."

"No one's forcing you to drink it."

"I know." He takes another swig. "But good news, this means that all us available ones in the band have been taken. You know what this means."

"Uh. Double dates?"

"I was thinking we can weed out the fans and see who're the ones who are only in it for the sex appeal, but double dates also work, I suppose."

"Who on earth would only like a band for the sex appeal?"

"I'm not sure, but I can't blame them," Nico says. He leans back and gestures to his body, almost spilling coffee. "I mean, who can resist?"

"I feel like there are times you forget you're gay."

"I wasn't talking about the girls in the fanbase, although I suppose that, too. I'm sure there are plenty of gay guys out there who would love to have a piece of this. Like, hey, remember that time at a meet and greet when we met that dude who told me I helped him figure out that he was gay? That was a crowning moment. It also means that he probably felt attracted to one of us."

"And that was probably Percy," Thalia says, coming over. "No offense, Nico, but you've got the sex appeal of a wet sock."

"Says the only single person in the band."

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"Besides," Nico continues. "Not everything is about Percy. Like. Come on. I'm sure there are plenty of people who once had crushes on me. Like." He turns to Annabeth. "Annabeth. If you had to pick one of us, who would it be?"

Annabeth pauses. "Uh. I mean. I feel like I'm slightly biased, since I am, uh. Dating one of you."

Percy beams at her. "You're such a good girlfriend."

Nico huffs. "You two are hopeless. I should make a Twitter poll."

"Don't do that," Thalia says.

"I won't. But I considered it."

"That's–" Thalia shakes her head. "You know what, forget it, you're useless. What we really came over to say is that Annabeth has just booked a taxi, so Percy, if you want your mushy goodbyes, I'd suggest you do it now."

Percy looks at Annabeth. "You're leaving?"

Annabeth shrugs. "I need to do some work."

"Oh."

"This is the part where we back away and pretend we can't see or hear anything," Percy hears Nico stage whisper to Thalia.

"For both of our sakes, I really hope we actually can't."

He rolls his eyes at his cousins' antics but he pushes himself off the edge of the bay and steps closer to her. When he's certain Thalia and Nico are a safe distance away, he takes her hands and says, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Coming. For Christmas. It– it means a lot to us – _all_ of us. My mom really wanted to meet you."

"I should be the one thanking you," Annabeth says. "I would have been alone."

"I mean, I doubt our company is much better, but I'll take it."

She rolls her eyes. "Don't be a nerd."

"Honey, this is what you signed up for."

She laughs a little and properly laces their fingers together. "I'll text you when I get home," she promises.

"I'll be waiting."

She goes onto her tiptoes and kisses him, and Percy feels electricity through all of his body. He thinks he might also hear someone make a noise in the background – it might have been a retch or a coo, and Percy isn't daft enough to put either beyond his cousins – but he doesn't care because he's finally got his happy ending with a beautiful girl and he couldn't be more pleased.

She pulls away and rests her forehead against his.

"You know," Percy says conversationally, "my mom kind of knew this would happen."

"You mean me kissing you in an airport waiting bay while my taxi metre just keeps running?"

"No, you boof, I mean us. Dating. Being all affectionate."

"Aw."

"Yeah. Right before I left she told me to take good care of you."

"Which you will, because you are the utmost gentleman."

"I am indeed, and you are very special to me, and I will not let you get away from me quite that easily."

Annabeth smiles, this time truly genuine, and it reaches her eyes so they twinkle. That's Percy's favourite kind of Annabeth smile. She's a bit bashful. "Always the romantic," she teases, but there's something in her eyes that Percy knows says _thank you_.

"I try. You should have heard the Shakespeare I conjured up on the plane about you."

"It was disgusting," Thalia calls. "You really shouldn't have."

Annabeth giggles.

Percy glances over her shoulder and sees her taxi driver beginning to look a little annoyed that she's taking so long, and finally he separates from her. "Well," he says. "You'd better be off, your cabbie looks like he's about to eat me whole."

"I doubt that, you're the one that's racking up my bill," she says, but she lets him go. "I'll text you later."

"Can't wait."

She blows a sarcastic kiss and he laughs. She heads away into the taxi, and slowly it begins to peel off down the road. He stays there standing, watching as it fades into the distance. It takes a few moments, but soon he's aware of a presence next to him.

He turns. It's Nico. He's standing next to him, also watching the road where the taxi once was. "You know, Thalia was right," he says. "You two really _are_ gross."

"You and Will are no better."

"I don't doubt that." He lets out a happy kind of sigh. "I'm happy for you, man. I'm glad we both got lucky in the romance department."

"Let's just hope it lasts."

"Don't depress me, Jackson, I'm reminiscing."

"Hey, boneheads."

They both turn. It's Thalia. She signals them over with a jerk of her chin. "Come on, taxi's waiting."

* * *

Alarmingly, Mr D is already there when they arrive home.

Percy is so ready to just collapse on his bed. The coffee wore off an hour into the taxi ride back, and he suddenly felt so exhausted that he could probably pass out right then. As Thalia stands by the door and fumbles around for her key, he closes his eyes and wistfully dreams about how nice his bed is going to feel on his aching body.

It's so close he can almost taste it.

That is until, however, the door swings open and they see Mr D sitting on their sofa with a cup of tea and his phone out.

Nico blinks. "Mr D?"

Mr D looks up, almost surprised, as if they had just walked into his house and not the other around. Just that makes Percy want to throttle him. "Oh," he says pleasantly. "How nice to see you all."

"What are you doing in our house?" Thalia demands.

"All in good time." Mr D stretches his stubby legs out. "I wasn't expecting you so early. Well, you're here now. I suppose you can make yourselves useful. Once you've put your bags away, could you make me a cup of tea?"

Percy bites his lip. "Um," he says. "But– you've already–"

"Thank you, that's so wonderful," Mr D says.

They all stand there in the doorway for a few more seconds, just gawping at him, until Thalia huffs and crossly pushes through, her suitcase noisily rattling against the floorboards. She disappears into her bedroom and slams her door shut, like an angry teenager.

Which to some extent Percy supposes she technically is. Whatever.

He and Nico exchange looks, and then Percy shrugs and moves towards his bedroom. He chucks his suitcase by the door and takes his scarf off and stretches, and then, with one final sorrowful look at his bed, he drags his feet to the living room. Thalia is already in the kitchen, crossly putting the kettle on and furiously mumbling to herself, so Percy decides it's best to just avoid her, and he heads to the living room.

Nico's already there. His suitcase is still by the front door.

Mr D looks up when he walks into the room. "Ah, Percy," he says. "I was just showing Nico a little riff I had come up with on my way here. I think it might work quite well with whatever you've already come up with the new album."

Their last album came out about literally eight months ago. Percy's eye twitches.

For the first time, he notices a keyboard lying on the ground, with Nico cross-legged next to it. He perches next to him, grabbing a guitar from the stand behind the sofa. "What is it?" he asks.

"I'll just check on the tea," Mr D says, standing up and walking towards the kitchen.

Dutifully, Nico plays it for him. They're all still utterly exhausted, but it doesn't appear their well-deserved naps will be coming anytime soon, not at least whilst Mr D is still around. Percy sleepily observes the riff, and tries to match it on guitar. He's so tired he plays it entirely in the wrong key.

"That guitar is horrendously out of tune," Thalia says, appearing in the doorway.

Percy looks down. "Is it?" he asks, his voice slow and thick with sleep.

"Yes, you bumble-brain. Here, let me tune it."

"I can do it." Percy strums it experimentally. Wow, that really _was_ out of tune. He's surprised he didn't notice. He begins to adjust the knobs on the side.

Thalia comes and plops next to him. She pokes one of the keys on the piano, and Nico watches her do it, his brain two seconds behind. "What is Dionysus doing here?" she mutters. "He shouldn't be here."

"You're telling me," Percy says. "I wanna sleep."

Nico hums non-committally.

Suddenly, Percy becomes aware of a figure standing in the doorway. He looks up, and sees Mr D, with a new mug of tea. In the background, he can see the old mug, still filled to the brim.

"Percy?" he asks. "A minute, please?"

Nico looks at him. He can't say anything explicitly, because he's standing right there, but just his expression is enough for Percy to figure out _oh damn you're screwed_.

"Uh, sure," Percy says. He climbs to his feet and hands his guitar to Thalia. She experimentally strums a few chords, her face worried. "Won't be long."

He heads over to the door where Mr D is waiting. Thank goodness, Mr D doesn't make any move to walk to his office, where he keeps all his torture mechanisms, so at least Percy knows he'll keep his thumbs this time, but it doesn't ease his conscience any more, either. Mr D never just casually asks to see people.

He's probably messed up. He just doesn't know how.

"Look," Percy says, as soon as they're alone. "Whatever you think I've done, I haven't. I even managed to evade prison over Christmas."

Mr D doesn't look very pleased. "Well, that's good news," he says. He produces his phone from his back pocket and opens an app. "What I took you outside for is an explanation on what this is."

He shows Percy the screen, and Percy's throat goes dry. It's a picture of him and Annabeth kissing outside the airport, when they were waiting for their taxis. There must have been paparazzi. Admittedly, it's quite a cute picture, because Annabeth is wearing her pea coat and beanie and Percy is in his long stripy scarf and the two of them together kind of look like a nice Pinterest couple, but the fact that the picture is in Mr D's hands terrifies Percy.

"Um," Percy says weakly. "It's. A kiss."

"I can see that it's a kiss, Percy. What I'm asking is why."

"F–friendship?"

It's the wrong thing to say. Mr D's eyes harden. "Do you take me for some kind of _fool_?"

"N–no, sir."

"Then explain to me, and _properly_ , why, despite strict instructions from myself to _not_ pursue this relationship, why you are kissing this girl."

Percy deflates. There's no way around this. "I– we're dating, okay?"

"Since when?"

"Christmas."

"Christmas, right." Mr D stands up and starts pacing, back and forth, back and forth, like a pendulum taunting him. "Now, can you remind me what exactly I said about dating?"

"I can't do it."

"Right, right. And yet you didn't listen."

"Nico's dating someone."

"Yes, but Nico is _gay_ and therefore girls have no interest in him. I couldn't care less about who he dates. What I care about is you."

"Why?"

"Because you are an attractive young rockstar with a good voice and– sometimes nice-looking hair. Girls are all over you. It's part of the _appeal_. If you're single you have more fans because there will be girls in it in the hopes that they will one day get you. It's the sexy kind of unattainable. If you date someone then you will lose fans."

Percy stands up. "Are you _serious_?"

"I've never been more serious. It's best you lose the girl now while you can, before feelings get involved."

Percy doesn't try telling him that from the moment he saw her at the TCAs feelings had always been involved, but he doesn't, because he's not sure that would go down well. In fact, the only thing to do now is to reason with him. Barter a little. All Mr D cares about is stats, and to keep Annabeth Percy's going to give him is a lot of them.

"Annabeth will help us," Percy says. "She'll move us forward."

"Oh, really."

"She's got over nine million subscribers on YouTube." Percy keeps his voice level. "Me dating her wouldn't mean we'd be losing fans, it means we'd be _gaining_ them. Nine million is a lot of people. It'd be a shared fanbase, almost. Sure, we might lose a few. But think of the fans we'd _win_."

It's almost sickening to talk about Annabeth as if she's no more than a bargaining chip, but in order for her to stay he's going to have to.

Mr D stares at him for a long time. His Adam's apple moves under his throat, like a trapped animal in a bag. Eventually, he says, "You'd better be right, Jackson."

Oh, thank God. Percy deflates with relief.

"I'm giving you this because of album sales," Mr D threatens. "You can have your girlfriend. But you better work with me, all right? Because if you don't I will personally make sure that she goes."

Percy nods hurriedly. "Yes, sir."

Mr D sighs, like he can't believe he just did that. Percy can't either. Mr D massages his temples. "Shoo," he says. "I've had quite enough of you for one day."

Percy wants to tell him that it's his house, so technically Mr D should be the one shooing, but he's already on thin ice so he quickly nods his head and scampers.

He darts back into the living room. Nico hears him come in and looks up from the keyboard he has strewn on the floor, and plays the corny dun-dun-duunnnn chord progression with a smile. "He survived!" he cheers.

"What did he want?" Thalia asks.

"I managed to convince him to let keep dating Annabeth," Percy says.

"He found out?"

"We, um. Weren't very subtle outside the airport."

"Right, when you were making out in plain view."

"Yeah."

Nico tries to play some version of a wolf-whistle on the piano.

"How did you do it?" Thalia asks. "He's _ruthless_."

"I talked stats."

"That's how you get him going," Nico says. "It's probably how he first realised he was in love with his wife. He said, talk dirty to me, so she said, Beyoncé's net worth is 1.16 billion, and that was the moment he proposed."

"I told him about Annabeth's following," Percy explains. "He hates the idea of me having a girlfriend because it makes me 'unattainable', or whatever, and apparently not in the sexy way, whatever _that_ means, but he also likes the idea of nine million subscribers riding on Annabeth's coattails."

"Well, thank God for her success," Thalia says. "Not gonna lie, I did think it was a bad idea to date another high-profile celebrity near the beginning, but apparently it was that fact that saved both your butts."

"I know, thank God." Percy sighs in relief. "Anyway, at least that means my relationship is safe."

"You can keep being all mushy and gross with her," Thalia says.

"Yeah, like, what's with that?" Nico asks, absently playing A Thousand Years. "I never knew you could be such a boyfriend. You were like, oh, Annabeth, the love of my life, let me take both of your hands and then deeply kiss you like you're the only person left on earth."

"Don't you start," Thalia grumbles. "He came up with literal poetry about her lips on the plane."

"Aw, gross, man."

"She asked for it, in my defence," Percy says. "And what do you mean I can't be a boyfriend?"

"You eat squeezy cheese from the can and you play Beer Pong with yourself and one time you didn't leave the sofa for thirty-seven hours because you were playing video games. That doesn't strike me as very boyfriendy."

"It's okay, though," Thalia rushes to console, after seeing his offense. "If it makes it any better, you're a very sweet boyfriend."

Percy smiles dopily. "She's a very sweet girlfriend."

"For God's sake, Percy–!"

"Just for once–!"

* * *

 **A/N merry christmas guys! and for those who do not celebrate christmas hello how are you finding winter so far**

 **im actually super pleased at the way this chapter turned out which is quite nice even though it is a bit filler-y. it's just over 5k too so wow look at me go. i threw in some percabeth fluff for you guys and then some bantz and also a nice serious talk with mr d. which will become important later. remember this moment children.**

 **anyway! how are you guys? i hope you're doing very well. i've been splendid myself. we got let off school on wednesday and ive been LIVING being able to wake up at 9 every morning. honestly i've got nothing else to do aside from chill on the sofa which is nice so hoorah me. how about you guys? is the Christmas Season looking to be pretty cool for you?**

 **also - thank you guys so much for 281 reviews! this is unbelievable i love you all so so dearly you guys are honestly the best. your reviews are so sweet i love reading them (allineedisabook you are so wonderful and lovely BLESS YOUR SOUL i'll be wishing for snow for you). speaking of reviews actually just a small note - a guest asked concerning like weather and degrees and stuff. i use celcius so if you see any temperatures here they'll all be in celcius so you farenheit or however its spelt peeps im sorry for confsuing you haha**

 **anyway! that's all that i have for today. i love you guys SO much thank you for being fantastic and have a very merry christmas! see you next saturday!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

"Break away to beat the odds  
All along it's been a race against the clock"

\- Infinity, Against The Current

* * *

 **Three** **months later**

It's nine am when Thalia marches into their hotel room and flings open the curtains.

Nico hisses and recoils, cramming his head under his duvet. Percy lets out a low moan of desperation and displeasure at having his dream interrupted and tries to retreat back into dreamland, closing his eyes and burrowing back under his covers.

"What are you doing?" Nico whines.

Thalia turns around and faces them, with her hands on her hips. For the first time, Percy blearily realizes that she's fully dressed. "We're going out," she says. "Get dressed."

Nico stares at her like she's crazy. "Uh, no?"

"Well, I'm very glad we had this riveting conversation," Percy says. "Goodnight."

However, before he can pull the sheets back over his head, Thalia marches over and rips them straight off, throwing them to the floor. Percy contorts and moans. " _Thaliaaaa_."

"It's a great day out," Thalia says. "We can't stay holed up in here for the whole day."

Nico snorts. "What are you, forty?"

"Come on," Thalia insists. "Just put on some clothes, slap on some deodorant. It's nice and it's sunny and we never get a nice sunny day to enjoy. Just work with me, for once."

Percy and Nico share looks. Percy supposes he can see her reasoning – normally they're never in one place long enough to properly sightsee, and it _is_ a lovely day. On the other hand, Percy is tired and the beds are really comfortable.

"Do we really?" he says, his voice a little whiny.

"Yes," Thalia says firmly. "I'll meet you in lobby. You have five minutes to get changed." With that, she whirls around and disappears from the room.

Nico scowls from where he's piled under layers of blankets.

They get changed pretty quickly. Thalia doesn't mess around when it comes to giving orders – she doesn't give them out often, but if they aren't obeyed she gets violent. Percy has the scar on the back of his leg to prove. There's no time for them both to have a shower, because Nico gets water all over the floor and Percy always forgets he has someplace to be afterwards because the hot water feels a lot like laying in bed, so Percy scrubs at his armpits with a damp towel and slathers on deodorant, pulling on a Nirvana shirt. It's his special one, the one that belonged to his dad. His name was stitched on the collar, POSEIDON, all in jaggedy green letters, but constant trips in the wash and overuse brought out all the letters except the P. So when Percy recovered it, he got Sally to sew his name onto it, instead.

It's not done very well, but it was done with love, so he wears it with pride.

Nico frowns at him when he comes out the bathroom. "Aren't you gonna be cold?" he asks.

"What about 'nice, sunny day' do you not understand?"

"Yeah, but that's a thin T-shirt."

Percy rolls his eyes and crams a sweatshirt into his bag. "Fine, I'll bring a jumper, _Mom_."

Nico sticks out his tongue at him.

They lock the door behind them when they leave and troop down the stairs. When they reach the lobby, Thalia is talking to the receptionist behind the front desk, her back to them. It's quite funny, because the desk is a few inches too tall, so Thalia has her arms crossed under her chest and is propping herself up on them, but she's on her tiptoes. Nico notices and snorts.

Thalia turns at the noise, and when she sees them, her eyes brighten. She patters over. "Hey," she says. "I was just talking to the receptionist to see if she knows any good places to go."

"I'm sure you were," Nico says. After a moment's pause, he adds, "Pipsqueak."

"I will literally cut you in half. I'm not that short."

Percy steps up to her. "You were saying?"

"You're like thirteen feet tall, Percy, of course I'm going to look short next to you."

Nico just laughs. "What did the lady say?"

Thalia straightens her shirt, slightly disgruntled. She doesn't like to be reminded that she's the shortest in the band, even if Nico is only a couple of millimeters taller than her. "Well," she says. "There's a super good milkshake bar down the street. Pretty lowkey, not a popular tourist hotspot, but all the locals love it, so she suggested we take a trip there. There's also a park I want us to visit, and a library, too."

"A _library_?"

"Yes, a library. The lady recommended it. She said it's got a very natural, rustic feeling to

It, even if you don't like to read books, which I know you two goons don't." Her eyes travel down to the bag in Percy's hand. "What's that for?"

"I packed a picnic."

"Har-dee-har."

"It's a jumper. Mama Nico was worried I'd catch a cold."

Nico scowls at him. "It's a genuine concern."

"Never mind the bright sunshine outside, either."

"Shut up, Percy."

Thalia takes mercy on him and wrestles him into an affectionate headlock. "Shall we be on our way, then?" she asks. "The park is closest, so we'll have a stop there and then we'll go and get milkshakes."

"Sounds like a plan," Percy says.

"You're choking me," Nico wheezes.

Thalia takes no notice and starts to drag him towards the revolving doors, his head still locked into her armpit. Percy hangs back and takes a picture on his phone, because he's embarrassing like that.

 **percyjackson** : do you smell the love

* * *

The park turns out to be a bit of a dud.

On the best of occasions, Percy is not a massive park person. He doesn't really see anything that extraordinary about them, not unless they've got a jungle gym or a rollercoaster or something, and it's not as if he's expecting something great, because the receptionist was a middle-aged lady who probably found joy in reading newspapers and eating peppermints, but, like. Even a couple of flowers would have been quite nice. Maybe a tree. Even _grass_ would have been cool.

But nope. It was a stretch of muddy grey land with one pathetic swing. Since it was a nice day, there were families picnicking everywhere, but Percy doubts it's bringing them much joy. Like, exactly how much fun can you have on a grubby picnic mat with some snacks amidst a vast wasteland of _dirt_?

"Well," he says. "This was anticlimactic."

"Yeah," Nico says. "I'm not sure why this was one of her options."

"There's a swing," Thalia says.

"Wow, a swing," Nico says. "That changes everything."

Thalia frowns at them both. "Well, we need to make the most of it." And she starts to stride off towards the swing.

"Not really," Percy calls after her. "We could just skip this whole park thing and go to the milkshake place, and stay there for twice the length we were planning so we could make up for it."

"Swing!" Thalia shouts without turning back around, and she sounds very cross for someone simply naming a piece of playground equipment, so Nico and Percy only have to glance at each other once before they take off after her. Several moms look slightly worried as they gallop past, but that's only probably because they're a bunch of teenagers in black clothing, and Thalia is wearing lots of eyeliner and has a murderous look on her face. Percy considers telling them that's simply her normal face, but if he does Thalia might actually turn around and kill him and he doesn't want to scar the children like that, so he keeps picking his way through the picnic blankets as apologetically as he can.

They reach the swing moments later and Thalia huffily leans against one of the poles. Percy takes the empty swing, and Nico stands next to him.

"Well," Percy says. "This is fun."

"Did you think the swing would make this park seem less dull?" Nico asks. "Because, if so, I'm not sure it's very successful."

"I just thought we'd make the most of it," Thalia says. "I mean, it is quite a nice day. We technically could have a picnic here."

"We'd just need food," Percy says decidedly. "We passed a grocery store on the way here, though, so it could work."

"We're not actually going to have a picnic," Nico says, looking mildly worried. "Right?"

"No, of course not," Thalia says. "That's practically and invitation for the paps to show up. They'd probably squash all our food."

"If they didn't eat it first," Nico says. "Oi, Perce, get off, I want a go."

"I've been sitting here thirty seconds!"

"Exactly, my turn. Come on, move your butt."

Percy grumbles but gets off anyway, leaning against one of the support frames. They're all far too big for the swing, Nico especially, because he's very skinny and very long, so folded up on the swing he looks like a gangly stick insect. His knees almost trail the ground.

"You really don't fit," Thalia says.

"Stop bodyshaming me," Nico says, adamantly wriggling around. "Let me have fun."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

While he's not doing anything, Percy slides his phone out his pocket to check if anyone has texted him. No one has, unsurprisingly, but he's got several notifications from various social media platforms, so he checks them all.

There's all the ordinary, retweets, fans tagging him in memes and Vine compilations they think he'd like, DMs, Instagram likes, so he responds to as many as he can, but, as he always appears to be doing recently, he goes to Annabeth's Instagram.

Two months ago, they let the world know about their relationship. It went a lot better than he had expected.

He was flooded with tweets, mentions, notifications of all sorts, about how excited everyone was. The fans went absolutely nuts, because as it turned out, lots of Annabeth's fans were fans of them, too, so it blew their minds that two of their "faves" (that's right, Percy's a fave) had gotten together. Percy was shocked with how little bad media he received, too. He got maybe three bad Instagram comments when he posted the picture of him hugging her from behind on Christmas Day (he had captioned it "you think it's cute but it's actually me giving her the Heimlich", because he's so funny, but it also turned out to be extremely vague, so Annabeth had to post another picture, one of Socks sitting on Percy's face, with the caption "yes we're dating he was meant to announce it the other day but hes useless"). It went a lot better than either of them could have dreamed of, and he's endlessly happy.

Like. He's honestly got the best fans in the whole world. They send him ugly pictures of Nico he forgot existed and various videos of their pets and, when he announced he had a girlfriend, they rejoiced and sent him even uglier pictures of Nico, and he almost cried because they were so sweet.

Honestly, fan _goals_.

He lands up spiralling over to her Twitter. Annabeth's Twitter is always the most amusing thing to scroll through, because her entire page is just retweets of cute animals and also stupid wonderings from about 2am, and today doesn't disappoint. Her most recent Tweets are from early this morning.

 **codenamewisegirl** : guys I just found a spider in my bathroom

 **codenamewisegirl** : it was the most petrifying thing ever I accidentally broke my mirror trying to kill it

 **codenamewisegirl** : STOP MOCKING ME IT WAS A GENIUNE HORROR SITUATION

Percy can't help the smile that spreads across his cheeks. God, he's in love with such a nerd.

He screenshots the Tweets and sends them all to her.

 **Percy** : [image67]

 **Percy** : rough night huh

Her response is almost instantaneous.

 **Annabeth** : you don't know half of it

 **Annabeth** : everyone keeps making fun of me for it but it was so scary!

 **Annabeth** : I don't do spiders okay they petrify me

 **Annabeth** : there is no reason why they should look, move or be the way they are

 **Percy** : aw bb

 **Annabeth** : don't make fun of me!

 **Percy** : im not

 **Annabeth** : yes you are

 **Annabeth** : did you know once there was a lady who got a spider bite but it didn't go away for ages and she didn't know why

 **Annabeth** : and then one day she was in the bath and she was washing herself and she hit the bite and it EXPLODED

 **Annabeth** : WITH HUNDREDS OF BABY SPIDERS

 **Annabeth** : THE MAMA SPIDER HAD LAID HER EGGS IN HER

 **Annabeth** : THAT'S SO GROSS

"Oh my God."

Percy looks up, to see what Nico is talking about. He's just about to gripe at him for interrupting his conversation with Annabeth (despite, you know, how disgusting it was) when suddenly he spots it.

A lone photographer in the distance.

He straightens, shoving his phone in his pocket. If there's one, there's ten. They always travel in packs, so they can get various shots of the panicked celebrity in question from seventeen different angles.

"You have to be kidding me," Thalia mutters. "We are literally in the middle of nowhere, how did they find us?"

Suddenly, Percy's phone feels a hundred degrees. He swallows, and laughs uncomfortably. "Uh," he says.

Thalia turns to him, her eyes blazing. "What did you do?"

"I, uh." He fidgets. "May have posted a picture of you both leaving the hotel?"

"On Instagram?"

"Twitter."

Thalia's eye twitches. "Did you somehow forget," she asks, her voice carefully controlled, "that fricking _TMZ_ follows us all on Twitter?"

"I didn't know they'd be able to recognize the hotel! It was so vague!"

She looks like she's suppressing the urge to suffocate him. "You– _idiot_ , Percy."

"Uh, guys?" Nico asks, slightly nervous. "Not to, like, cut the conversation short or anything, but I think he's getting closer, and I can see quite a lot of others, so, uh, should we bolt? Or something?"

"We can't go to the milkshake bar now," Thalia says. "They'd follow us in."

"We need to lose them, somehow," Percy says. "Which is not a good bet to make because they're like moss. They're impossible to shake off."

Thalia closes her eyes. "Just one day alone," she mutters. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Let's just take the main street," Nico says. "If we just keep crossing they'll lose us eventually. Besides, it's not as if we can hide out here. It's literally just flat land."

Thalia sighs. "Come on, then."

They cut across the field as quickly as they can, and climb over the short fence separating the park from the street. They don't run, because then it would be obvious they're escaping the paparazzi, and also it may draw more attention to them, which they don't exactly need, what with a group of photographers high on their tail with high-zoom cameras. They cross once, twice, three times, and duck their heads so they blend in with everyone.

"Do you think we've lost to them?" Nico hisses as they take a sharp turn down an alleyway.

"Not in the slightest," Thalia says. "Come on, just keep going."

They dip in and out of shops, entering through the exits and leaving through the entrances, waiting it out in various changing rooms and bathroom stalls. Eventually, they duck into a busy shopping mall, and climb onto one of the escalators.

"Let's just go into a café and ask to stay in the back room for a few minutes," Thalia says. "They'll definitely have lost us by then."

However, fate decides to be on their side for once, because just as they climb off the escalator a trio of people who look almost eerily similar to them – two boys, one girl, who has a blue streak in her hair, and one of the boys is wearing a faded Nirvana shirt – climb on the escalator going down. They stand there and gape at them, and then when Percy hears the click of a shutter he almost curses because that's precious time he's lost, until he notices the paparazzi are taking pictures of the lookalikes, not them.

"Well," Nico says, into the silence. "That was convenient."

"Almost scarily so," Thalia comments.

They're quiet for a while longer.

"Well," Percy says. "Let's get milkshakes."

* * *

The milkshakes are heavenly.

The bar the receptionist told them about was divine. Percy had at first been hesitant, because she'd also raved about the park, and that was just disappointing, but as soon as he steps in he knows that for once the old lady spoke wisdom.

The walls are painted a pretty pastel pink, and there are boxes up the ceiling stacked with sweets and chocolate. The bar is also completely glass, so you make your order and then you see the workers creating it right in front of you. Thalia gets mint choc chip ("you disgust me," Percy tells her), but because the opportunity is there Percy and Nico don't just settle for one flavor. Please, no. That's for peasants.

They pink four flavours plus five different toppings, like _men_.

Thalia looks mildly disgusted when they come back to her outside with their plastic cups piled high with chunks of chocolate, rocky road, marshmallow, fudge, and a variety of other sweets. Percy is almost salivating as he takes his first sip.

"Oh my God," he groans. "This is the best milkshake I've ever had."

"Hear, hear," Nico says. He takes a sip, his eyes closed. "I can hear the angels singing."

"That's because of how close to death you are," Thalia says, unimpressed. "You can't seriously drink that entire thing. You'll die if you try."

"At least I'll go happily," Percy says, and Nico clinks his cup against his in agreement. Thalia rolls her eyes.

They decide to visit the library Thalia wanted to see afterwards. They get the drinks as takeaways and make their way down the street, enjoying the nice warm sunshine The library turns out to be a quaint little building down a side street that smells of peaches and old books, and it's run by a little old lady who gives all of them warm hugs when they introduce themselves.

"We don't get a lot of customers," she explains. "My name is Hestia."

"It's nice to meet you," Thalia says. "We _are_ allowed drink here, right?"

"Of course, of course!"

After briefly showing them around, Hestia disappears into her office, and Thalia browses the shelves. Percy has never been a big book person, but he does have to admit, there's something about this place that just feels really nice. It's like a soft, comforting hug, in book store form, and even Percy can't help but squat and have a peer at some of the books on the lower shelves.

Nico collapses next to him, his milkshake still almost completely untouched. "Nice place, innit?" he asks.

"Yeah," he says. "It's like– homey. Like I could get used to being here."

"I never thought I would ever hear you say that," Thalia says.

Percy pinches her ankle.

They browse for a little while longer, just admiring all the books. None of them are things any of them would read, because they're all the fat classics with hard covers and dust on almost every page, but they're extremely pretty to look at. Percy even gets Nico to take a few pictures of him posing with them. He makes sure to play it off jokingly, but he knows that when he gets his phone back, if any of the pictures are good he'll post them. Edgy song lyric and all.

Eventually, after around twenty minutes of being stupid with the books, Nico stretches his looks. "Crikey, my legs hurt. I need to stand up."

But then Nico stands up the minute Thalia turns around and they bump into each other. It's not a big collision, just enough to send them momentarily off-kilter, but Nico is so clumsy just that light push is enough to almost send him completely sprawling backwards, and he accidentally knocks half his milkshake down his shirt.

"Aw, man!" he complains. "Thalia, look what you did!"

Thalia looks a little amused. "That was your fault, airhead."

"What am I meant to do? I can't go around in a sticky shirt!"

Suddenly, Percy remembers the jumper in his bag. "Don't worry," he says. "I've got a spare shirt, remember? C'mon, let's go to the toilets so we can dry your shirt and I can put it in my bag."

Leaving Thalia by the shelves, the two of them troop to the bathrooms. Thankfully, it's empty, so Nico strips his shirt off and Percy digs his jumper out his bag. "Give me your shirt," he says. "And put this on."

Nico catches it when he throws it, but then he lifts it to his nose and frowns. "This smells bad," he says.

"Well, you can't always get what you want, can you?" Percy grabs it from him and inhales. "Oh, come on, it barely smells."

"Then you wear it," Nico says. "I don't want to wear your gross body odour jumper."

"Well, what are you supposed to wear? You can't wear this, and you certainly can't go around half-naked."

"Just give me the shirt you're wearing now."

Percy stares at him. "Nico, this shirt is going to smell way worse, considering I've, uh, been _wearing_ it for the past two hours?"

"You don't understand, Percy. There's something funky about that jumper. Just give me your shirt."

Percy stares at him for a few moments longer, before blinking in disbelief and pulling it off. "Fine then, weirdo," he mutters. "Have my shirt."

"I will, thank you."

They both pull on their respective shirts on and then stare at the milkshake-sodden shirt from before, still dangling from the edge of the sink.

"We could just leave it," Nico says.

"We could."

They stare at it for a bit longer.

"But we won't," Percy says decidedly. He picks it up with a grimace and runs it a few times under the hand drier, so the milkshake won't get inside his bag and make it smell. "Well, this is as good as we're going to get. Come on, let's go back inside."

When they get back inside, however, they see that Thalia is not alone. She's leaning against the shelf, chatting to some teenage girls. At first, Percy thinks that Thalia has made some new friends, until he sees that one of the girls is wearing a The Demigods T-shirt, and he smiles. Must be some fans.

"Hey," he says, as they approach.

The girls whirl around, and their eyes go comically wide when they see the two of them. "Oh my God," one of them whispers. "You're– you're–"

"Nico di'Angelo, I know," Nico interrupts, pushing him away and beaming at both of them. "You guys fans?"

The girls nod, looking incredibly starstruck.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Grace," says one. "And that's Katie."

"Nice to meet you guys," Nico says. "You want pictures or something?"

Grace squeaks. Percy translates that as a yes.

"So, how do you want to do this?" he asks. "Do want one of us to take the picture and we all rotate?"

"So diplomatic," Thalia says, with a laugh. "Do you guys have phones?"

Both girls nod, but when they start patting around their pockets, their eyes grow wide. "Oh," Katie squeaks. "I, um. Think we might have forgotten them."

"That's cool," Thalia says. Percy savours this moment. She's only ever this calm and well-mannered around fans. "I can just take the photo on my phone and then DM it to you guys. Do you have a Twitter or Instagram or something?"

While one of the girls rattle off their Instagram handles, the other comes and wedges herself between Percy and Nico. Shortly afterwards, the other girl comes to join them, and Thalia stands a few feet away.

"All right, chaps," she says. "Smile!"

And then something goes wrong because the split second before she clicks the camera one of the girls – Percy's forgotten who she is – surges upwards and kisses Nico straight on the mouth.

Thalia almost drops the camera. Nico's eyes go wide and he stumbles backwards, and the girl unattaches herself with a wet pop. She looks dazed, and so does Nico, and the other girl looks so embarrassed. She puts a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my God," she says. "Oh my God."

Nico blinks. "Well," he says. "Um. Not to burst your bubble or anything, but, I uh. Don't exactly swing your way."

Percy thinks he's trying to break the tension, but he only makes it worse. The girl squeaks and the other one whimpers, and before Thalia can suggest that maybe they retake the picture one of the girls has the other by the arm and is dragging her out. She says, "I'm so sorry" to them all as she passes, and then when she thinks she's out of earshot she hisses, "Grace, you can't just _do_ that!"

"Technically," Nico says, "that was sexual assault."

"Oh my God," Thalia says.

"Are you all right?" Percy asks.

"I'm totally fine," Nico sounds, and thankfully he sounds like he means it. "I just need to text my boyfriend that I love and appreciate him."

Thalia lets out a funny, hysterical snort. "Talk about personal space," she says. "They can't do that."

"Don't worry, I think they both know that now," Percy says. "That was super weird, though. Nico, you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Nico says. "Did you actually get the picture, Thals?"

Thalia opens her phone. She did get the picture, but it's incredibly blurry, and Percy and the other girl are cut out completely. It only shows the back of Nico's head and shoulders, and then very clearly a girl with long brown hair with her mouth against his.

Nico wrinkles his face up. "Delightful."

"I'll delete it," she says.

"Good," Nico says. "Can we go home now? It's not been a very good day."

For the first time, Thalia agrees. She puts an arm around his shoulders and Percy gives him a reassuring pat on the arm, and they set off back home.

* * *

 **A/N so this wasn't very percabeth filled at all and you may all be thinking "wow what a boring filler chapter" and if so let me assure you only one of the above is true because this is actually one of the most important chapters of the entire story**

 **"how?" you wonder**

 **I cackle and don't tell you because what do you take me for**

 **anyway sorry**

 **hey guys! how are we all? I hope we're all well. how was your Christmases, by the way? did you eat loads? was it fun? I hope all of you had really nice times, even if you don't celebrate Christmas. I got a new laptop (! how cool is THAT aaah) so that makes updating a whole lot easier for me, and for Christmas day itself we went around to a friend's house and I ate myself silly (I always forget how good gravy tastes because I don't eat the other 364 days of the year so I go slightly mad)**

 **also how did you find this chapter? despite all my joking I do hope you semi-enjoyed this. I know there's no percabeth but there's nothing wrong with some good old brot3 bonding right?**

 **also ALSO I'd like to give a big shoutout to my dear pal Rachel (TheWritingManiac) who for Christmas wrote two FANTASTIC one-shots for me and my friend Helena. one's harry potter and the other is percabeth and they're both really incredible so I suggest you go check them out :DD**

 **anyway! I hope you enjoyed that, pals! please tell me what you thought and i shall see you all next week! bye! xx**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

* * *

"I know every streetlight  
And maybe the colours will fade  
This is the place we were made"

\- Place We Were Made, Maisie Peters

* * *

 **Percy** : are you up?

 **Annabeth** : it's eleven am of course I'm up

 **Percy** : excellent

 **Percy** : madison's, 12

 **Percy** : be there

 **Annabeth** : what if I don't want to be there

 **Percy** : still be there

 **Percy** : we're going on a date

 **Annabeth** : yay I love dates

 **Percy** : that's precisely why im taking you on one

 **Percy** : see look at this good boyfriendship I spoil you

 **Annabeth** : you're awful

 **Percy** : love u too babe

 **Percy** : see you at 12?

 **Annabeth** : see you at 12 x

* * *

Madison's a cute little café off the main street that Percy has taken a very big liking too. He and Thalia go there sometimes, to get doughnuts and coffees, and because it's not very well-known it's often quite empty, so they don't get recognized a lot. And, on the off-chance that it is very full, the owner has learnt to recognize any Potential Threats, so whenever someone looks like they're about to yell "whoa, it's The Demigods!" into a packed room she quickly beckons them into the back room, so they can enjoy their doughnuts amidst a bunch of boxed oranges, broken coffee machines and slightly confused workers.

It's perfect for a date with Annabeth.

Over the months, he's gathered what Annabeth likes. Their five-month anniversary is coming up soon and he's desperate to make it fantastic. Obviously, this is not the celebration (their albums didn't suck _that_ much – he can afford a nice place) but this is going to be one of their final days off until Mr D has them back in the studio, and he wants to make the most of it with his girlfriend.

 _Girlfriend_. Nearly five months and he's still not used to it.

"Where're you going, all dressed up?" Thalia asks as he pads into the kitchen.

Percy glances down at his attire, slightly confused. "I'm not dressed up."

"I know," Thalia says, sipping her tea. "I said that because I wanted to point out that you are alarmingly underdressed."

"It's just Annabeth," he says. "I don't need to dress up for her."

"She's your girlfriend."

"We're just heading to Madison's. It's not as if we're meeting the Queen."

Thalia stares at him for a few moments, before shrugging and taking another sip of her tea. "Whatever. You're the one who does romance around here."

"Precisely," Percy says. "Now, if you don't mind, I must be off. I've got a date with chocolate pancakes and the love of my love, so unlike you recluses I shall be leaving soon."

"Bye, then."

Percy stops. "What, no hug?"

Thalia sighs. "Perce, you're already two minutes late. If you want to _have_ a girlfriend by the end of this I'd suggest you stop waxing poetry and just leave."

Percy's eyes widen and he checks the time on his phone. "Crap!"

" _Go_ , Percy, my God."

He doesn't need to be told twice. He grabs the half-eaten slice of toast from her plate and crams it into his mouth, ignoring her indignant, "Hey!", shoves his arms through the sleeves of his hoodie and _bolts_.

Percy's normally late to most things, so he's still not quite sure why he's stressing as much as he is, but it's just a little awkward when you're late to something you organized yourself. He doubts Annabeth will be mad – she'll probably just find it funny – but he decides to make it up to her nonetheless and instead of heading straight into Madison's after climbing off the train he pops into the flower shop next door and buys a small wreath of daisies. He's learnt, with most girls, as long as you arrive with a present you're in the clear.

(It's saved his butt so many times with Thalia. Chocolate bar, CD, guitar pick he found in the gutter that he claimed to have belonged to Billie Joe Armstrong – Percy knows how to weasel his way out of tricky situations.)

Daisies in hand, he heads into Madison's. He's almost expecting to see Annabeth sitting at a table, with a hot chocolate or something, on her phone as she waits for him – but she's nowhere to be seen.

He gapes. Come _on_ , Annabeth. He's twenty minutes late and he still managed to arrive before her?

Huffing out a laugh, he picks a table near the back and collapses in the chair next to it, resting the daisies on top of it. Almost immediately, a waitress materializes next to him.

"Hey," she says. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, I'm okay for now," he says. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"Okay."

He digs his phone out of his pocket as the waitress heads away. There are no texts from Annabeth, so he just rolls his eyes affectionately and logs onto Twitter, replying to DMs and retweeting some stuff from fans. He takes an ugly selfie and posts it, too, just to pass the time, and then, when Annabeth _still_ hasn't arrived, starts scrolling through Nico's Twitter, responding to every single tweet he can.

Nico is such a sap when it comes to Twitter, honestly. His most recent is from onlt a couple of minutes ago, and it almost makes Percy barf.

 **nicodiangelo** : just remember what makes you YOU and hold onto it!

→ **percyjackson** : stop being gross

→ **nicodiangelo** : unless ur percy in which case don't because hes a brat

Percy huffs out a laugh. His cousins are very stupid sometimes.

Finally, _twenty minutes later_ , Annabeth bursts through the door. The waitress who had previously come up to him stifles a laugh behind the counter. Her hair is in two braids and she's wearing a stripy top that looks very nice on her but Percy is just so astonished at how late she is that he can't even focus on that.

She slides into the seat opposite him. "Hey."

He stares at her. " _Hey_?"

She pauses. "Uh–?"

"Hey? _Hey_? You arrive _forty minutes late_ and all you can say is _hey_?"

"Oh, right, about that." Her eyes fall on the flowers. "Are those daisies?"

Percy sulks. "They were meant to be for you. As an apology for being late. Because I thought I was late. And then you show up quite a while later." He pauses. "With no apology gift, I see."

Annabeth pulls a sheepish face and puts her handbag on the table. At first, Percy doesn't know what's going on, until she produces the _exact same bouquet of daisies_ he has from it, and rests them next to Percy's. "Actually," she says. "Uh. It appears we had the same idea."

Percy cannot believe it. He stares at them in disbelief.

"You're kidding," he says.

Annabeth tries for a smile. "Sorry for being late?"

Percy just looks up and down, from Annabeth to the flowers, and back again, and he's hit by such an overwhelming sense of fond all he can do is say, "You're incredible, I love you." He stands up and kisses her across the table, and she lets out a slightly surprised noise against his mouth, which he supposes is understandable because it's a little out the blue, but then she smiles and giggles against his mouth and cups his face to kiss him properly.

When they separate, she says, "Sorry for being late."

"This is hilarious."

"Flower shop next door, right?"

"You know what this means now, Annabeth."

"We both get to take home flowers?"

"You're now officially my soulmate. You can't leave me now, we have to get married. Sorry, I don't make the rules."

She laughs. "For just getting the same flowers?"

"It's practically fate, Annabeth. This is not a common occurrence."

She strokes the petals of the bouquet Percy bought for her. "I mean, they are very pretty."

"I'm so glad we have similar taste."

"I didn't even know if you liked daisies," Annabeth says. "I was so worried. I thought about getting you roses but I wasn't sure if you liked them, so I got daisies, because everybody likes daisies."

"I love daisies." Percy grins at her. "See? This relationship already has so much potential."

"We've been going out five months, Percy."

"Never say never, Annabeth. In the long scheme of things that's not a huge amount of time spent doing things. Although I will say these five months have been some of the best months of my entire life."

Annabeth laughs again, but her cheeks are tinged pink, and she ducks her head slightly in embarrassment. "You charmer, you," she says.

"It's what I do best."

Before Percy work even more of his best moves on her, the waitress from before appears again, holding a notepad, with her apron tied around her hips. "Hello," she says. "May I get you both anything?"

"Oh, yes please," Annabeth says. "Do you still have those jam doughnuts?"

The waitress smiles a little, clearly endeared by her. "Yes, we do."

"Can I have three of those? Oh, and a coffee, please. Milk and two sugars."

"Of course." The waitress jots the order down. "Sir?"

Percy straightens, slightly. It makes him feel very important to be called sir. "Yes," he says. "Can I have a coffee and a rocky road?"

Annabeth pulls a daft face at him across the table and he kicks her.

The waitress writes down his order. "Is that all?"

"Yes."

The waitress nods and bobs away. Only moments later does she resurface with their orders. It may seem magical but she's probably just grown used to them visiting here so often that she knows their orders right off the bat.

"You know," Percy says. "You never did tell me why you arrived so late."

"Oh." Annabeth stirs her coffee absently with an apologetic look on her face. "Right. Um. Well, Jason is in town, Jason, Piper's boyfriend – wait, what am I saying, you're his cousin, you know Jason – and he arrived this morning to surprise Piper, because he normally lives up in Canada, and she was expecting him next week, and we kind of all got caught up talking."

"Jason's in LA?" Percy takes a thoughtful bite of his rocky road. "Do you know if Thalia knows?"

"I don't know. But actually, now that you've brought that up, we were all talking about how nice it would be if we all got together for, like, dinner or something. He knows you guys are here and apparently he hasn't seen you for years, and because we're all friends he thought it would be cool if we, you know, all reunited. Figuratively speaking and whatever."

Percy nods. "That's an excellent idea. I haven't seen him in– crikey, almost a decade. I only found out he was still alive a couple of months ago. It'll be nice to see him in the flesh and whatnot. When are you guys free?"

"He's staying with us for, like, the next month or so, and me and Piper haven't got any trips scheduled until about October, so I guess it's all up to you guys. I know Dionysus wants you back in the studio soon, doesn't he?"

Percy groans. "God, I'd almost forgotten about that."

"You sound pained."

"It's _pain_ ful working with someone like Dionysus, honestly. He makes us record everything about twenty times over, even if it's perfect. He's _crackers_."

"I can imagine." Annabeth circles her coffee mug. "So? You think you'll all be up for it?"

"'Course," Percy says. "I'll talk to them about it. I'm sure they'll be up for it."

* * *

" _What_?" Nico squawks.

Percy sighs. "Do you ever listen? I told you–"

"No, I heard you," Nico says. "I just didn't think you were serious."

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"Oh my God," he says. "Oh my God."

"Oh, relax," Thalia says, from where she's sat on the sofa. "It's not as if he's come back to life or anything."

"He may as well have!" Nico exclaims. Whenever he gets worked up his voice gets particularly squeaky, and today is no exception. "Thalia, I haven't seen Jason since I was, like. Eight! That's over ten years! I only just found out he wasn't dead! I can't meet him now!"

"Well, what do you expect to do?" Thalia asks. "He's my brother, and _your_ cousin."

"Technically, he could be a part of the band," Percy says. "Does he play an instrument?"

Nico whirls on him and points a finger at him. "Don't you even joke about that," he threatens. "This is not a laughing matter."

"Quite the contrary," Thalia says. She's still sprawled out on the sofa, like she hasn't got a care in the world. "I personally find it very hilarious that you don't want to see Jason again. He's still Jason, you do realise. Just because someone isn't in your life doesn't mean they're dead."

"When it's Jason, it does," Nico says. "I can't. I refuse."

"Well, that's too bad."

"Piper's going to be there?" Percy tries.

"Yes, and attached to Piper's hand is going to be Jason."

"My God," Thalia says. "It's _Jason_. You grew up with him. Get a grip, Nico."

"I just need time to process."

"You've had about eight months," Thalia says. "Stop acting like it's a sudden realization. You found out he was still around last year."

"That's not enough time. It's going to be like sitting at a table with a ghost."

Thalia just buries her head into her hands. "You're absolutely hopeless, di'Angelo."

"Well," Percy says. "I'm going. You can decide whether or not you want to, too."

"Of course I do," Nico says. "I just don't think I'm emotionally ready to see Jason again."

"Well, get emotionally ready," Thalia says, stretching. She cracks her neck and then peels herself off the sofa, sloping past them to get to the kitchen. "Do we know when, Perce?"

"Annabeth said it's up to us. Jason's staying for a month."

Thalia props her hip against the island in the centre of the kitchen, and tries to wrestle the lid off of the biscuit tin. "Hm," she says thoughtfully. "Well, we're free in the evenings for all of next week, but after that Mr D is planning us to be working full days in the studio, so it'll have to either be the rest of this week or next week."

Percy pulls his phone out of his pocket. "I'll text Annabeth," he says. "Could you make me some tea?"

"No."

"Cool, thanks." He sends Annabeth a quick _either this or next week_ and then puts it on the counter and puts the kettle on. "So, we're having dinner with Jason. I feel so grown-up and professional."

"Isn't it great to be able to adult?" Thalia asks. "Look at us, having dinner parties."

"With long-lost presumed dead siblings," Nico adds, slightly petulantly.

"I will actually pour boiling hot water all over you if you say one more word about this entire thing."

Nico frowns, but shuts up.

Percy's phone vibrates with a text from Annabeth. He picks it up.

 **Annabeth** : marvellous! tomorrow 6pm?

"She says tomorrow, six pm," he says.

"Tell her yes," Thalia says. "And also that I'm the better looking out of the two of us."

 **Percy** : grand

 **Percy** : also thalia is ugly

 **Annabeth** : duly noted

"He didn't write that you were the better looking out of the two of you," Nico says, maybe slightly unnecessarily.

"I gathered that," Thalia says. "It's okay. If he wants to sit in his own crippling insecurity then that's his problem, not mine."

Percy rolls his eyes and pours the kettle into an empty mug. "You're so full of crap."

"I'm not the one making up lies to protect my fragile masculinity."

"Whatever." Percy adds some milk and then picks it up. "I'm going to have a nap. I've been awake too long."

"Don't pretend," Nico says. "You're just going to FaceTime Annabeth."

"You literally saw her today," Thalia says.

"It's never too soon to see her again."

She mimes retching. "My God, you are _foul_."

"Why thank you." Percy moves towards his bedroom. "I'll see you guys in a couple hours."

"Don't propose," Thalia says mildly. "You're only nineteen."

"And you're a brat, but have I ever said anything?"

"Oh, you're asking for it–"

Percy ducks as she swats at him and dances out the kitchen, laughing.

* * *

So. They're all just a tad nervous.

Percy won't lie, he's been feeling the nerves for a while. He thinks they all have. It's quite a big deal, this whole dinner. They're reuniting with their cousin who they haven't seen in ten years, who for a period of said ten years they believed was also dead, and it's filling Percy with butterflies. For all he scolded Nico for his worrying, he feels the exact same, if not even wore.

It's only just dawning on him how crazy this all is. This is Jason. Jason.

But if he thinks he's bad, Thalia's even worse. She's clutching the neck of the apple juice they brought (they're so responsible they're even _respecting the legal drinking age_ – you really can't any more grown-up than that) (aside from, you know, _exceeding_ the legal drinking age, but whatever) like it's a lifeline, her knuckles white, and ever since they first stepped into the lobby she's been completely silent. Percy is afraid she might burst the juice open. Thalia is not one to wear her emotions on her sleeve – she's always been quite good at disguising how she feels. But she's gone whiter than a sheet, and Percy is a little scared she might just drop down and die before they've even met Jason.

"We're okay," he says, in the silence of the elevator. "This is no big deal."

Thalia shakes her head, her eyes unfocused. "Not in the slightest."

"Tiny deal," Nico agrees.

"And we're not afraid at all, are we?"

"Absolutely not."

"I'm so unafraid."

"Good," Percy says. "So. This should be easy then."

"So easy," Thalia says.

The elevator doors slide open.

"Cakewalk," Nico squeaks.

As it all turns out, it's fine. Jason isn't the one to open the door – in fact, it's Piper, in her ill-fitting clothes, as always, wearing a pair of baggy jeans, a tank top a size too small and a faded oversized flannel. When she sees them, her face completely lights up.

"Hey!" she exclaims.

If she notices how petrified they all look, she doesn't mention anything. She pulls them all in a stiff group hug and then leads them down the corridor, to the living room, babbling on about everything. Percy spies Socks skulking under the dresser by the door, and he kind of almost wants to join him.

"Jason's already here," she says. "He's been dying to see you all again."

"I love dying," Nico says weakly, but no one really hears him.

And then the corridor opens up into the living room, with the wide sofas and TV and occasional animals strewn everywhere, and then there he is.

Jason's changed a lot since Percy saw him last. Which makes sense, considering he's no longer nine years old. His hair has lightened, and it's thicker and longer, and styled differently, and he's got a scar across his lip and the faintest hint of stubble across his jaw. He's wearing a faded Superman T-shirt and glasses and his shoulders are remarkably broad and all Percy can do is stare at him because _wow_ this is definitely no longer the skinny little shrimp who used to play on the football team.

"Holy crap, you're gorgeous," he blurts.

To his relief, Jason looks just as wonderstruck as they feel. At the compliment, he blushes, and shuffles a little. "Uh, thanks," he says, and whoa, his voice is deep, when the hell did that happen. "You, uh. You too?"

"You hesitated," Nico says, almost inaudibly. Jason catches it and cracks a grin.

"What can I say?" he says, his eyes sparkling. "You guys are just a little underwhelming in real life."

For a second, there is silence, and his smile fades, as he realizes he may have stepped over the line. Then Annabeth starts laughing, and at first Percy thinks it's just to relieve the tension, until he turns and looks at her and realizes she's genuinely finding this hysterical.

"Annabeth!" he cries.

That does it. Piper laughs a little, and the smile returns to Jason's face. Annabeth manages to wheeze out "your face" before bursting out laughing again, and Percy tries his hardest to scowl at her because, uh, rude, but she's just too cute it's almost hard to. Nico nods, almost impressed, and holds his fist. Jason bumps it.

"That was probably the straightest thing I've ever done," Nico says. "I feel like a changed man."

"Don't be a pig, Nico," Thalia says tightly.

Percy turns to look at her at the surprising strain in her voice. He doesn't really think anyone else has noticed, except Jason, who looks at her with sympathy in his eyes. Percy knows this has been quite a lot on Thalia. She's been casual about it in the past, probably because she's been aware of Jason's whereabouts for a lot longer than they have, and they've probably even Facebook messaged a few times, too, but it's very different to see your brother, in the flesh, for the first time in around eleven years.

To Percy's slight disappointment, they don't rush at each other and hug, like in all the movies. Instead, they just stand staring at each other for a while longer, until Thalia breaks the gaze and awkwardly holds up the bottle. "I have apple juice?"

They'll reunite later, Percy knows. When they're alone in the kitchen there's going to be a lengthy talk, maybe some crying, probably a bit of swearing, but for now, they're all okay.

Seeing Jason wasn't as mind-shattering as he thought it would be. It's still weird, because the last time he saw Jason he had knobbly knees and cried when Alexis Dawson called him a moron, and now there is a man strutting around, with a beard, and glasses, and shoulders, and it's all a little odd, like he can still see the little Jason superimposed over the older one, because he can still see hints of him in the way Jason moves, and he knows it'll take a while for his head to wrap around the whole concept, but until then he thinks he'll survive.

Ironically, Nico is probably the most chill about the entire thing. He and Jason have already settled on the sofa with red plastic cups filled with Ribena ( _respecting the law_ ) and they're chatting like they're old mates.

Annabeth sidles up next to him on the sofa. "Hey."

"Oh, hey." He squeezes her hand. "Sorry, just – taking it all in."

That was rude, earlier."

"It's half true."

He pinches her.

"I'm not taking it back. When I first saw you guys in the dressing room I was a bit like, oh. This is slightly unspectacular."

"Annabeth!"

"I mean, obviously that changed, because you're my boyfriend now, and I love Thalia and Nico to bits, but. Jason isn't wrong, per say."

"Yeah, well." Percy searches desperately for an insult. "When I first saw you in the dressing room I didn't even know who you were, so. Who's the loser now?"

Annabeth just rolls her eyes.

As it turns out, 'dinner' doesn't actually mean 'dinner'. Piper comes in with a plastic container filled with chicken pad thai, and when Thalia stares expectantly at it Piper says, "there are several more frozen meals in the freezer if you wanna dig those out and shove them in the oven."

"I thought this was dinner," Nico says.

"As if I'm going to cook dinner for six people."

"I offered," Annabeth says.

"Shut up, Annabeth."

Thalia just rolls her eyes and climbs off the sofa, probably to search through the freezer and cook whatever she finds, and only moments later Jason removes himself from Piper's side and goes to join her. This is where the ultimate showdown happens. As he leaves the room Percy recognizes the mutual expression of acceptance of everyone's face, and he's filled with an odd feeling of fond. Whatever happens in the kitchen, they're all going to pretend they can't hear it.

Annabeth leans forward to pour herself a glass of apple juice and then settles back against Percy's side. His arm subconsciously falls around her shoulders, and he absently strokes the skin of her arm under the sleeve of her T-shirt. That's probably one of his favourite things about Annabeth. She's got just the slightest amount of pudge to her, which makes her both great for hugs and cuddling, unlike Thalia and Nico, who are both skin, bone and not much else. Cuddling with them is like trying to cuddle an uncooked noodle.

"You okay?" he asks.

Annabeth nods. "Just a bit tired. But what about you? This is a big moment for you guys."

"Tell me about it," Nico says. "This is just so weird."

"He's like a man now," Percy says. "I'm still trying to get it all together."

"He's wonderful," Piper says, through a mouthful of pad thai. "You'd be proud of him, all of you. He's really, really lovely."

Annabeth nods towards the kitchen. "What do you think's going on in there?"

"Just making up for lost time," Percy says. "They'll probably yell at each other for a bit."

As if on cue, there comes a crash. Piper closes her eyes.

"I really hope that wasn't a bowl. We're running dangerously low."

"Oh, leave them be," Annabeth says. "Sibling bonding."

There's another crash.

"If they keep on tearing up my kitchen I'm making them pay for the damages," Piper mutters, shoving her food in her mouth, but she obviously doesn't mean it, because she's making no move to get up and stop them.

The mood falls sleepy quite quickly. Nico takes out his phone, and Piper stops eating, and just starts pushing her food around, like she's thinking about something. Annabeth is practically lying across Percy's chest at this point, so he can see the screen of her phone quite clearly. She opens her Snapchat, and it immediately opens on the front camera. She listlessly scrolls through all the filters, and because Percy's obnoxious he leans his head down a little so he can share the dog filter.

Annabeth just laughs a little, and angles the phone upwards, so he's more clearly in shot, and then holds down on the capture button to take a video. Despite announcing their relationship the world, they haven't really been flaunting it as much as they could have. In fact, if Annabeth posts this, this'll probably be the first thing aside from the Instagram posts and paparazzi shots that they've been in together that are truly– _couply_.

Percy decides to savour the moment, and tightens his arms around Annabeth's waist, so he can haul her up a little on his chest and press a kiss to his cheek. She squawks in alarm and elbows him in the stomach, so he licks her, and he can see Nico rolling his eyes and Piper suppressing a smile, and then there's another crash from the kitchen, and he's so fond because he loves everyone so much that he kisses Annabeth's temple and means it, this time.

She obviously can tell, because she ends the video there and then beams up at him.

"If you two kiss I'm out," Nico says.

Percy wasn't going to, but just because he said that he does, making sure to take his time with it. Annabeth cottons on to what he's doing, so she exaggeratedly rolls her eyes back into her head and makes her body go limp.

Nico mimes retching. "My God, you two are disgusting."

"Get off their case, Nico," Piper says. "They're cute."

"Not when they're going at it like two mackerels! It's like their own private show there."

Annabeth laughs. "Fancy a round two, Percy?"

Wow he loves her. "My dearest Annabeth, I would be overjoyed."

"Nope, bye," Nico says, and he stands up to leave, but just before he can turn into the corridor and camp out in the bathroom he bumps into Thalia and Jason, who come in from the kitchen. Thalia's eyes are slightly red and Jason has a handprint on his face, but they both look okay so Percy doesn't mention anything.

"Watch it," Thalia says, probably too harshly.

"I'd like you try and sit in there while Percy and Annabeth make out," he says. "It's revolting."

Thalia raises an eyebrow. "You were making out? In front of people?"

"What can I say?" Percy says. "I like the attention."

Annabeth bats her eyelashes.

"Now it's gross," Piper says. She scrapes the edge of her plastic tub with her fork. "Jason, come sit next to me so we can be that disgusting."

"Not you too," Nico groans. Jason just laughs.

"Sorry, dude."

"Did you get the food?" Percy asks. "I'm starving."

Thalia and Jason both pause.

"Uh?" Thalia says.

"The food?" Percy asks. "You were in there for quite a while. Don't tell me you didn't put the food in."

Jason chews his lip. "That – may have happened."

"I don't care enough about you to do that," Thalia says.

"Yes you do," Percy says. "Put the food in."

"No."

"You promised me food," Percy says. "I was lured here with the intentions that we would be receiving food."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Fine, you big baby, I'll do it."

"No." Percy pulls her back on the sofa. "Someone else do it, I want Annabeth."

No one moves.

"My God." He stands up. "Fine, you selfish brats. I suppose we'll have to do it ourselves."

(So, like. They may forget to put the food in the oven because they're too busy kissing, and by the time they pull away and realise, _oh wait, dinner_ , the food has already defrosted and gone disgusting, but it was totally worth it.)

* * *

 **A/N well that ending was cripplingly bad but oh well it needed to end somewhere**

 **anyway! happy new year everyone! isn't it so weird that it's 2018 now? i honestly kind of can't believe it. 2017 went so fast. well, here's to everyone's 2018 being magnificent!**

 **i hope you enjoyed this chapter! i actually really like it. i know all these chapters have been quite filler-y but i thought i'd show some development in all the friendships and actually address the whole jason situation because it is a little weird for a brother to disappear for 10 years so i decided to show all that hopefully in a good way so woo**

 **also, thank you all so much for all your wonderful reviews! you're all too nice and lovely and i love you all so much. thank you so much for your support xxx also, regarding the cool guest who asked about how i plan stories (also hellooo fellow swiftie nice to meet you) just do it in whatever way suits you. i always brainstorm it out super weirdly, like in really simple stupid terms in which my lack of sleep really shines through, and even though it's not professional it really motivates me, because every time i scroll down i see YES MIA WRITE THAT CHAPTER and it's actually pretty inspirational**

 **(im not actually kidding i literally have that written)**

 **anyway sorry tangent**

 **i do hope you liked that chapter! please tell me what you thought and i'll see you all next saturday! byeee! xx**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

* * *

"You'll never have to worry, and I'll tell you why  
I'll never find a girl quite like you"

– Little Darling, Lewis Watson

* * *

By the time Thalia, Nico and Percy are ready to leave, the rain is coming down so hard it doesn't look like they'll be able to.

"Los Angeles, man," Nico says. "What a shame."

"I know," Annabeth says, in a voice that says she doesn't think it's a shame at all. "Looks like you'll all to kip with us for the night."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Thalia says. "Honestly. The rain isn't that bad."

As if on cue, thunder booms in the distance, and the rain starts falling even harder.

Thalia's eyes twitches. "As I was saying."

"You might have to," Piper teases gently.

"Do you even have any room?" Nico asks.

"Well, Jason's taking up our guest room," Annabeth says, "but he can stay with Piper tonight so one of you can sleep there, and then our sofa unfolds into a bed. The third person can decide whether they want to share the sofa bed or the guest room."

"Sounds good," Percy says.

"Oh, shut up," Thalia says. "You only want to stay here so you and Annabeth can get cosy together."

His cheeks go red. "Don't go spilling my motives like this, Thalia," he says, willing his blush to fade. "I thought we were sworn to secrecy."

Annabeth laughs, but her cheeks are a bit red, too. Good. They're both embarrassed.

"Oh, I hate sharing," Nico says. "They're both awful to sleep with."

"Speak for yourself," Thalia says. "I'll take the spare bedroom."

"I'll take the sofa, then," Nico says. "I'm not sleeping with you."

Percy groans. "Why do I have to share?"

"I'm definitely not sharing with Nico," Thalia says. "You're the most harmless of the two of you."

Percy doesn't doubt that, because Nico's farts are toxic enough to kill a country and Thalia bites in her sleep, but it's those two reasons that Percy doesn't want to share with them. Rather they sleep with each other so they can fight each other with their own disgusting and often violent habits, and not attack him when all he's doing is trying to take a nap in peace.

He sighs. "I'll share with Thalia."

"Excellent," Nico says cheerfully. A less pleased Thalia sulks. "Well, I suppose we'd best be off to bed, then, now that we've decided sleeping quarters. Do you have any pajamas we could borrow?"

Piper fusses over them, sizing up Nico with Jason and herself up with Thalia (Percy almost laughs at the disgruntled expression on Nico's face when Piper tells him that the shoulders of Jason's shirts will probably be a bit too broad for him), so Percy takes the opportunity to turn to Annabeth.

She beams at him. "Hey."

"Can I borrow some pajamas?"

"Mine won't fit you."

"We both know very well you've got, like, half my closet up in your bedroom."

Annabeth smiles sheepishly. "You really can't blame me, Percy."

"Can't I?"

"It's a girlfriend's duty to steal clothes. I'm like a crow. I like shiny things. Or, uh. Percy things."

"As much as that flatters me, I would like some of them back. You've taken some of my favourite clothes."

"They're all mine now. Sorry not sorry. You won't be getting _any_ back."

"Not even the Nirvana shirt that I hold very dear and close to my heart?"

"Especially not that one. That's the comfiest one."

Percy sighs, but he's suppressing a smile. "Well, can I have at least one back? Just for tonight?"

"I suppose. If you must."

Percy follows her up to her bedroom. It's not the first time he's been here – he's had some pretty kickass naps here, and he tried giving Annabeth her first guitar lesson up here, too (it was her first and last, may he just say – she tried to strum E minor chord and snapped a string, and that was when Percy decided to just end it there) but he still marvels at it like it is. Annabeth's bedroom is so fascinating to look at. From a creepy fan point of view, he can see the spots of it that she's included in her videos sticking out like the areas have been painted fluorescent yellow, but it's just so her it's almost adorable. She's got posters everywhere, and there's a bookshelf against one wall. There are books simply everywhere, and one wall is almost completely covered in Sticky-Notes. It's such a wonderful to be it calms Percy almost immediately.

"Here," Annabeth says, breaking him out of his reverie. She hands him a shirt and a pair of tracksuit pants. "You can sleep in those."

Percy takes the shirt with a frown. "You had this? I thought I'd lost this!"

"Sorry."

She doesn't sound sorry at all. Percy is so in love.

"I'll go and get changed," he says. "And then I'm going to pad myself up so Thalia doesn't accidentally kill me in her sleep."

"You aren't funny," Annabeth says. "Now, leave, I want to sleep."

"All right, girlfriend. Love you."

"Love you, too."

* * *

Percy wakes up at around nine am by the faint sound of talking downstairs.

Thalia is still asleep. She was pleasantly less violent than normal, and Percy thinks he only has a couple of bruises on his legs, as opposed to a broken knee, which is lovely. She's smudged mascara all over the pillows and if the prospect of seeing Annabeth wasn't so close he would have taken a picture and sent it to her to gloat. Instead, he just rolls out of bed and patters down the stairs.

Nico is also seemingly still asleep on the sofa bed, but Piper isn't, and she's perched on the armchair on her phone. She sees Percy and gives him a soft smile, and he returns it, but keeps following the sound of Annabeth's voice until he's in the kitchen.

Annabeth is sat on front of her laptop, chattering away, whilst she edits a picture on Photoshop. It all just seems like a very cosy, very laid-back set-up, because she's dragged the armchair they have stacked in the corner of their kitchen right up the counter, and she's sat cross-legged in it with a blanket and a cup of tea. She looks a bit sleepy herself, with her curly blonde hair pulled out of her face in a drooping ponytail, and one of Percy's shirts that she'd previously stolen sliding off one shoulder, but she just looks so cute Percy can't help himself.

He wanders over to her, stealing a mug from the cupboard above her head, and leaning in and pressing a kiss to her temple. She doesn't stop what she's doing, but a tired smile slips onto her lips and she leans into his touch a little.

"Hey, babe," he says.

"Hey," she says. "Can you make me some toast?"

"Make it yourself." He patters past her to the kettle, and flips it open, peering inside. Drat. There's not enough water in here. He's going to have to boil even more. "Why do you always do this to me, Annabeth?"

She laughs. The brat, she does it on purpose. "Love you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He puts some toast on for her, just because. "What're you doing?"

"A livestream," Annabeth says.

He stops. "A– livestream?"

She starts to grin. "Yeah."

"You mean– they saw all of that?"

She nods. "Yep."

"Oh."

Annabeth beams at him, and it almost makes Percy feel a bit better, and then she turns back to face the screen and reads out a comment. "You're right, alliecat45," she says seriously. "Percy _is_ an idiot."

"I take that personally."

"A lot of people are here saying we're a cute couple, though."

"Well, there's one thing I agree with."

"Come, say hello."

Percy flicks the kettle on, and then heads over to where she's sat. He leans in, so his head is in frame. "Hi, live-streamers."

"Don't say that."

"Annabeth's fans, whatever. Do you have a name?" He turns to Annabeth. "Do you guys have a fandom name or something? The Chasers?"

"The _Chasers_?"

"That's technically a Harry Potter reference. You should consider it."

"I should." Annabeth squints at the screen. "Oh look, we've got some questions. Fancy staying for a while?"

"There's nothing I would love more." He plops himself onto Annabeth's lap, squashing her almost completely.

"Hey– _Percy_!"

Percy wriggles around, and Annabeth groans. "This is so comfortable."

"I hate you."

"Now that's just simply untrue," Percy says. "I personally think this is romantic."

"And I personally think you're breaking my pelvis."

"I'm making you toast, you need to be nice to me." Percy leans forward, making sure to push as much weight on Annabeth as he can, and peers at the screen, and Annabeth lets out a laugh of pain from behind him. "Oh, look, here's a nice question. When and where was our first kiss?"

"Christmas."

Strictly speaking, that's false, but Percy understands Annabeth's need to keep the personal things quiet, so he doesn't point it out.

The comments go wild.

 **prettypiper** : THATS SO CUTE IM SCREAMING

 **dragonman82331** : that's adorable

 **xnnxbxth** : omg christmas can you hear my heart

 **bluebell** : u guys are my otp

Percy understands precisely none of the comments, except the ones that have all been capitalized, because they seem quite aggressive, but he appreciates the enthusiasm nonetheless. "I made it extra romantic."

"It wasn't that romantic," Annabeth says from behind him. "I nearly caught hypothermia. He took me outside, in minimal clothing, in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night. In New York."

"In that case I can argue that the power of my kiss was just so incredible that it heated you right up."

Percy can't see Annabeth, and neither can the viewers, because she's hidden behind him, but she gently thumps him on the back. He can almost feel her blush. "Shut up."

"The art of denial is so beautiful," he says. "Okay, next question."

"No, no more questions," Annabeth says. "You can go now."

"Hey, why? I was just beginning to enjoy myself!"

"You're annoying and no one likes you."

Percy just laughs, but he does climb off her. "If that's how you really feel."

"Oh, Percy, don't be dumb, I didn't mean it."

"I know that, you muffin." He leans in and kisses her cheek. "I'll be upstairs if you ever feel like getting your views back up."

She gasps and swats at him, but he dances out the way before she can make contact.

"That's rude!"

"I'm kidding, babe."

Annabeth scowls. "You need to finish making me toast."

"Two seconds ago you just said I was annoying and no one liked me, so I mean, I don't really know if I should."

"Come on, Percy, don't be awful."

"I'll make it, don't worry." He leans against the back of the chair, and smirks down at her. She scowls up at him. "But don't you think I deserve some compensation?"

"For goodness sake, I'm livestreaming, Percy!"

"You don't get toast if I don't get a kiss. I'm just saying."

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but leans up anyway and quickly pecks his mouth. "There. Now, scram. I want peanut butter."

"Come on, Beth. That was _barely_ a kiss."

"I'm _working_!"

"It's not as if your viewers don't appreciate it!"

"My God, Percy, _go_!"

He laughs and finally moves out of frame. By now her toast has popped and the kettle has been boiled, so he sets about making himself a cup of tea and Annabeth her peanut butter toast, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Annabeth sighs and turns back to her laptop. "I'm honestly so sorry about him, he's simply dreadful."

"I'm getting my proper kiss later today."

"Percy, I _swear_ –"

He slides the plate of toast onto her lap and quickly kisses her temple. "Love you, babe," he says. "I'll get out of your hair now."

Annabeth visibly softens. She's a sucker for temple-kisses, and also for peanut butter toast. "You're the best."

"I know. Now entertain your fans."

"I will. Go away."

She says it very nicely. Percy winks at her and disappears in the doorway.

He heads into the living room. Nico is sitting up in his sofa bed, looking at him disapprovingly.

"You two are disgusting," is all he says.

* * *

By the next day, Mr D has them all working in the studio. It's a bit of a shock, working so long and so hard after so many months of just relaxation and doing mainly nothing while their album sells its last CDs, but Percy is lying if he said he doesn't enjoy it. They've all come with bits and pieces they composed and wrote over the time, and their first day is just productive. It's mainly spent with Nico experimenting with all sorts of sound effects on the keyboard that he hadn't discovered before, and Thalia making daft noises into the microphone.

So, you know. Good and productive.

The second day is a bit better. They've got Mr D evilly eyeballing them through the glass door most of the time, which makes doing work a lot easier, because if they start mucking around he'll come in and skin them alive, so they properly start bouncing around song ideas. Percy's got a small guitar riff that works with a few lines from something Nico's come up with, and Thalia finds some corresponding chords on the keyboard to work with it, and by the time their producer Apollo comes in with Chinese takeout for dinner, they've got half a song that's really not that bad.

"This album is going to badass," Thalia says, through a mouthful of chop suey.

"Agreed," Nico says. "I vote we call it 'NICO'."

"That's what you said last and the time before," Percy says. "There's a reason why it hasn't happened yet."

"I'll do a Twitter poll," Nico says.

"Don't do that," Thalia says. "On Mr D's publicity timetable we're only allowed to mention we're recording in another week."

"Screw the timetable," Nico says crossly, but he keeps eating his food so Percy reckons all's good.

However, not all is well. A storm is brewing overhead, and Percy only catches glimpses of the storm clouds before it hits him full on, on the eighth day in the studio.

"Percy," Mr D calls. "Can I speak to you outside for a bit?"

Percy hesitates briefly. He considers telling Thalia and Nico that he's leaving but they're having a scream-off in the recording booth and Nico is beginning to bring in his cymbals so he doubts they'll hear (or care, for that matter). "Uh, sure."

Mr D smiles. It's weird and stretched, like he's forgotten how to have emotion. "Good."

They head to his office together. The walls are covered in signed records and posters from other artists he's produced for and Percy won't deny he feels immensely jealous when he catches sight of a Selena Gomez picture in there. Unfair.

"Please," Mr D says. "Take a seat."

He's being abnormally nice. Normally by this time he would have cracked open a wine bottle or something. Percy eyes the chair like it's going to bite him, and then tentatively lowers himself down.

"So." Mr D leans back in his chair and fixes Percy with his beady, piggish eyes. "How's the album coming along?"

Percy blinks. Where were the whips? The chains? The torture racks? Mr D wouldn't bring him in for a casual chat. That's, like. So not Mr D. "Um, it's good," he says. "We've worked out a few songs so far – Thalia's got a kickass bass riff, we just need to put lyrics to it, and yesterday Nico and I wrote a really great song, I think you're gonna like it–"

"Yes, whatever." Mr D rests his elbows on the table. "What about the fans? Are they excited for the album?"

"Yeah, I think so. We've done lots of social media stuff, they're all hyped."

"Good, good."

There's a pause. There's something wrong here. Mr D doesn't just call people in to have a chat. There's a catch, and it's either a deal or fingernail pulling.

Mr D steeples his fingers. "And what about Annabeth?"

He says it delicately. Percy is kind of taken aback.

"What about her?"

"Are your fans happy? About your relationship with her?"

Where was this going?

"Uh, yeah?" Percy's leg starts to vibrate under the table. "What's– what's that got to do with anything?"

Mr D nods a little, like Percy's just said something insightful. "Have I ever told you about the importance of marketing in this business?"

This has to be one of the oddest conversations Percy thinks he's ever had with the man. Sure, he hasn't brought out any shackles yet, but he almost hopes he would, because at least that would be familiar and expected. Right now Percy feels like he's walking across a valley of landmines. Shackles are a regular. Talks about the album and proper business stuff are– _definitely_ not.

"Um, once or twice?"

"Yes, I would have thought so." He nods. "Now, Percy. Do you think you can you tell me what the most important thing to putting out a record-breaking best-selling album is?"

Percy pauses. "Good music?"

"Publicity, Percy. News. The press. You want the media interested. You want to come in with a bang, come out with a bang, make an impression. Lady Gaga didn't become Lady Gaga because she had a good voice."

"Uh, actually, that's kind of exactly–"

"Your album is due to come out this year. If you want it to top charts you're going to have to make some headlines, my boy."

Oh no. This can only go badly. Percy almost wishes it were fingernail pulling instead. "Mr D–"

But it gets worse. As it always does.

"And this girlfriend of yours. Annabeth." Mr D speaks her name like it's a foreign word. "She's an interesting girl, isn't she?"

Percy's blood turns to ice. "You're not using Annabeth to make headlines for us."

"Oh, I wasn't planning on using her." Mr D innocently. "You were going to do that for me."

"I'm _sorry_?"

"Look, Percy. You're in a rock band. You're a rock _star_. You've got a reputation to uphold, and, well, with a girl like Annabeth, you're not doing anything good for yourself. She's too _nice_. She feeds the homeless and bakes cookies, for heaven's sake. You've made your name, Percy. If you want to keep it there you're going to have to take a different route."

Somewhere underneath his skin he begins to simmer. "Are you telling me I need to _dump_ my girlfriend?"

"You need someone rebellious, Percy. Someone on the edge. It's tongue-in-cheek, this game you're playing, and if you want to talk the talk you better walk the walk and Annabeth is only holding you down."

Percy's hands begin to shake. "That's stupid. I'm not breaking up with Annabeth for album sales."

"If you want to make it anywhere in this industry you gotta do some stuff, my boy."

"No. No." Percy stands up. "No. No, that's stupid, I'm not going to do that. I don't want to, that's so dumb."

Mr D's eyes harden. When he next speaks, his voice is ice, and Percy's blood runs cold because he'd always thought Mr D was a harmless pig with a hairy back and a slight drinking problem. Here he sounds _chilling_. "What you need to learn," he says, his voice cold and controlled, "is that under my contract, I don't care what you want. It's about what I want. I own you, in case you forget."

"And I don't care. You said you'd let me keep her. She raised the ratings."

"I looked at the statistics, Percy," Mr D says. "You were right – for the first few months. People only stay interested if there's a scandal. If you break up, imagine the _sales_. Imagine how many more people would buy the album."

"I'm not. I refuse. She's my girlfriend."

"And truly, what a shame it is that you have to end things with her," Mr D says insincerely. "You know, I watched her livestream last week. That moment with you and her was all over Twitter. I've taught you well. You know how to get the ball rolling."

"If it was all over Twitter that means we're still doing it. We're still making headlines."

"But not enough," Mr D says. "Not nearly enough. You're at the point in your relationship that you're becoming boring. It needs to be now, Percy. If you leave it too late then you'll be completely irrelevant and no one will care if you break up."

"I told you, I'm not doing it."

"Percy – "

"No." Percy stands up, the chair screeching against the linoleum. "I'm not. Do whatever you want with us, but don't touch my relationship with Annabeth. You can't do that to us."

Mr D watches him for a very long time. He's got intense eyes. Percy never really notices them, because they're surrounded by flaps of pink flushed flesh and that's quite distracting enough in itself, but when he's cornered like this with nothing but those eyes on him like spotlights it's hard to hide. Percy can feel his pulse all over his body.

Finally, when Percy is so afraid that he's going to stand up and scream and drop them from his label, he just shrugs. "Okay."

Percy frowns. "Okay?"

"Okay," Mr D says. "Whatever you say."

"Oh." Percy had kind of expected more of a fight. "I mean. Good."

Mr D nods. "You'd best be back to the recording booth."

"Yeah." Percy nods, too, and then starts backing towards the door. "Yeah."

Mr D doesn't say anything. He doesn't follow him, just stays seated at his desk, his fingers steepled, looking very deep in thought. Percy doesn't brood on that too much, and, shaking his head, stumbles back to the studio.

He's planning on telling Thalia and Nico, but the moment he walks in he's met by a wall of screaming, and every thought flies straight out of his head.

"Are you still doing that?" he cries.

"I need to prove him wrong," Thalia says. "I've brought a tambourine into it, and also your guitar. Hope you don't mind."

Percy glances down. His electric guitar is plugged into an amp and it's been turned up to its highest volume. It appears they've both brought in instruments, though, because there's another electric guitar plugged in, perched on Nico's lap, and he's dragged his drumkit over, too. All the plug-in instruments are at their highest setting, and with a wince Percy realizes that Thalia's also holding a metal agogo.

"Doesn't this just seem unnecessary?" he asks, pained.

"Not at all," Thalia says, tucking the agogo under her foot. Normally this would dull the noise even a little but she's wearing her metal-soled Oxfords and Percy wants to cry. "This is survival of the fittest."

"You're both going to go deaf."

"It'll be for a good cause," Nico promises. He adjusts the microphone in front of him, and then reaches over to the sound desk and turns the volume up. "Are you ready?"

"No," Percy says.

"Absolutely," Thalia says.

When they start screaming Percy's head gets filled with so much noise he almost passes out. He doesn't, but it's enough for him to forget about the conversation with Mr D.

That is, until the next week, when everything comes crashing down.

* * *

 **A/N hello friends!**

 **how are we all on this fine day? I hope we're all quite well! this chapter is a wee bit shorter than normal but i'm actually quite pleased with the way it turned out so that's fun!**

 **also! shameless self-promo but a lot of people asked what happened between Jason and tahlia in the kitchen scene last chapter, so i wrote a one-shot called nothing left to lose about it, if any of you would like to check that out** **:)))**

 **I haven't really got much more to say aside from thank you all so much for 350 reviews. you guys are super wonderful and i love and appreciate you all so so much so thank you ever so much! you guys are excellent xx**

 **i hope you enjoyed this chapter, my lovelies! please tell me what you thought and i'll see you all next Saturday! xx**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

* * *

"I'm the light blinking at the end of the road  
Blink back, to let me know"

– Always, Panic! At The Disco

* * *

The day starts off ordinarily enough.

He and Annabeth had stayed up until sometime around 2am FaceTiming each other the night before (they're _that_ couple) so

"Hey," he says sleepily as he walks into the kitchen. He's still a little bleary-eyed, so he gives Thalia's ear an affectionate pat as he heads past her to the fridge in lieu of a pat on the shoulder, and stares at the contents of it, considering what to make for breakfast.

"Hey," Thalia says, a little distractedly. She's in a pair of loose cotton shorts and a tank top, and she's sitting at the counter with her laptop and a cup of coffee. She looks a little concerned, which is always worrying, so Percy tilts his head.

"What's up?"

"Huh?"

"Why're you frowning?"

"Oh." Thalia doesn't look away from the screen, and her frown doesn't go away. "Just– this website posted this article about you cheating on Annabeth, and it's niggling me."

Percy laughs. "That? Come on, Thalia. Why are you upset? That stuff's _hysterical_. Who's it with this time, you?"

"Percy," Thalia says, and suddenly Percy looks into his eyes and his laughter begins to fade. "That's not the only one."

Something like fear pierces his skin with ice. "What do you mean?"

"It's the top story," Thalia says weakly. "Thirteen gossip websites have already posted about it. It's trending on Twitter and Facebook. It's– God, Percy, it's _everywhere_."

Percy seizes her laptop. Back when they were still small and insignificant, attempting to make waves in the music industry, they had learnt to tell the difference between fake news made for views and fake news people thought was real. One small article about how Nico was leaving the band meant nothing. When it was just a one article that's all it would ever be – an article, lost somewhere in the internet algorithm. But multiple articles, about the same thing, meant that it was a certified rumour, and when things like this grow legs they take off running for the hills beyond recapture.

Percy's heartbeat starts to quicken, and in a frantic hurry he clicks on the first headline that comes up.

 **PERCY JACKSON CHEATING ON GIRLFRIEND ANNABETH CHASE?**

 _The Demigods' Percy Jackson and YouTuber Annabeth Chase have been Hollywood's It couple for almost the past year – but it looks like there's trouble in paradise when early this morning gossip magazine Tiger Stripes was anonymously tipped off with a picture of what appeared to be the guitarist kissing another girl._

 _It's still early so neither party has yet to come forward and make a statement about the picture, but all we can say for now is that there's going to be a lot of explaining needed and we're not all sure the power couple are going to be able to make it out alive._

The article has been topped with a photograph – and with a sick sense of dread in the pit of his stomach Percy realises it's the blurry picture Thalia took of Nico with the fan back in the library. Nico's back is turned so all you can see is the back of his head and the girl attached to his mouth, and it would have just been an innocent, innocuous picture if that had all it had been, but the real kicker, the part that makes Percy's insides plummet to his feet, is the very plain, very clear PERCY stitched onto the back of the collar.

"Oh my God," Percy says, and he feels his head go light. "Oh my God."

 _"_ _I don't want to wear your gross body odour jumper."_

 _"_ _Well, what are you supposed to wear? You can't wear this, and you certainly can't go around half-naked."_

 _"_ _Just give me the shirt you're wearing now."_

"I thought you deleted that picture," Percy says, his voice trembling.

"I must have forgotten," Thalia says. "Oh God, Percy, what do we _do_?"

"How did they even get that picture? You didn't post it anywhere, did you?"

Thalia looks hurt. "Of course not!"

"Well, fricking Tiger Beat didn't go through your phone, now, did they?"

"Stop shouting at me, Percy!" Thalia cries. "We need to sort this out! I get you're angry but I'm on your side, and you've got your head on backwards if you think I had anything to do with this, okay?"

Percy stares at her. Deep down, he knows that she's right. Of course she is, she's like his sister, why would she leak an incriminating photo to the press. But he's angry because that picture has put his relationship with Annabeth on the edge of a cliff and nothing else seems to make sense.

"You need to call Annabeth," Thalia says. "Now. I'll try and get to the bottom of this."

Percy nods, his mind a fuzz. "Okay."

He scrambles for his phone, which he had shoved deep in the pocket of his trackies, and searches for Annabeth's number immediately. He stabs the 'call' button and holds it up to his ear, tapping his foot, hoping, praying she picks up, hoping, praying she hasn't read any of the articles.

She doesn't pick up, but the phone rings for a long time before the voicemail option comes up. Percy is flooded with relief. She didn't decline his call, and she didn't block him. Maybe she hasn't seen it. Maybe there's hope.

"She won't pick up," he says.

"Dammit," Thalia says. "Wait, I'll try, and I'll text Piper. You keep looking."

Thalia presses her phone to her ear and powers out the room. She's just as anxious as he is, and somehow that almost helps. The thing is about Annabeth was that she was just never just Percy's. She was all of theirs – she was one of Thalia's few non-bandmate girl best friends, and both she and Nico adored each other, because they both played their nerdy card games together and made obscure references to dumb video games that no one except each other got. And Percy– God, she's Percy's _girlfriend_ , and also the very light of his life, and he loves her.

If this is how it ends he's not sure he'll be able to cope. The media is vile, but he didn't know they were so treacherous.

He scrolls numbly through pages of articles, all about him cheating on her. That same damned photo is plastered over every single headline, and just as he sets his phone next to him on the counter as he keeps going through Thalia's laptop, he just feels it vibrating and vibrating with notifications, from Twitter, from Instagram, from his own friends, but he can't even look at them, not if they're not from Annabeth.

And they never are. Hundreds of notifications roll in and not a single one is from her.

Thalia comes back into the room, looking distraught. "I couldn't get hold of her," she says. "I texted her, and Piper, and called Piper, too, but her phone was switched off, so it went straight to voicemail. Neither of them are picking up."

"I need to do something," Percy says dumbly. "Something. I need to go on Twitter, or Instagram, or – or anything, I need to say something–"

"You can't."

They both whip around. Nico is standing in the doorway, in just his boxers, with his phone in his hand. It should have been funny, but it's not, because of the haunted expression on his face. He looks just as troubled as they feel.

Percy gapes at him wildly. "What– what do you mean, I can't? I have to!"

"You'll just make it worse," Nico says. "I tried thinking it all through. I don't know how this happened, or why, but there are zero loopholes."

"What do you mean?" Percy asks, his tone turning ragged.

Beside him, Thalia exhales, and drops her head into her hands. "Oh, God."

"Face it, Perce," Nico says. "The person in that picture has your hair and your shirt, and I'm _gay_. We literally can't prove that's me. If you go on a Twitter rant, you'll only make it worse for yourself."

Percy feels himself deflate. "Oh my God."

Nico comes over to him. "I'm so sorry, bro."

Percy willingly falls into his arms. He feels kind of numb. He knows that technically, nothing has happened yet, and that maybe he and Annabeth will make it out alive, but the rational part of his brain knows it's highly unlikely. Annabeth's entire brand is the Internet. Even if she's away from her phone now, she's going to be near an online source, and she's going to see the articles before she sees any of Percy's texts or missed calls. And even though he's right, if she sees it all after she's read the articles, it'll all seem like a cheap cop-out, a fumble of an apology.

This is hopeless.

"Who would have done this?" Thalia asks. "I just don't understand."

"That makes two of us," Percy mutters.

"I'm serious," she says. "The only place that picture ever was before it went viral was on my phone, and the only way anyone could have got it was from my phone. I didn't send it to anyone. It was just– there, in my camera roll. I don't understand how it got released."

"Maybe you were hacked," Nico says.

"Doubtful. Besides, if I did, I would have known. They would have done something like get into my Twitter or whatever. They wouldn't have just taken a picture that they couldn't have known existed, may I add, and then do nothing else."

"Well, it certainly wasn't any of us," Nico says. "And no one who is close enough to actually get into our phones would do something like this."

It's like a spark goes off in Percy's brain. He shoots up.

"Mr D," he gasps.

Nico frowns. "Mr D?"

"You think _Mr D_ did this?" Thalia asks disbelievingly.

"It has to be."

"Yeah, but why? Didn't he let you keep Annabeth because it would get our ratings up?"

"Not anymore," Percy says. "He told me I had to dump her."

Nico blinks. "I'm _sorry_?"

"He told you you had to break up with her?" Thalia demands. "And you didn't tell _us_? Percy, you _bumblebrain_!"

"I didn't think he'd make me!" Percy insists. "I told him I wouldn't, and then he just went all quiet and said okay. I thought that was the end of it!"

Nico drops his head into his hands. "You _idiot_ , Percy."

"Don't call me an idiot! I'm the one who's life is currently in ruins right now!"

"Sorry," Nico says, at the same time as Thalia says, "You're the one who was stupid enough to think that okay actually meant okay!"

"What else was it supposed to mean? _Let's get burgers_? I'm not a mind-reader!"

"How long has Mr D been our manager, Percy? And when, in any of those years, has he ever let something like that go?"

"I put up a pretty convincing argument!"

Thalia stares at him, and then shakes his head. "God, you _nitwit_."

"What did he say?" Nico asks. "I thought he was onboard with the whole Annabeth thing."

"He was. But apparently we got 'boring' so less people were interested in us. And now, with our new album on the horizon, he thought if we broke up our sales would go up, because people would buy our album to see what happened."

"Of course, he would do something like this," Thalia mutters. "That sneaky potbellied _ass_ , I'll barbecue him, I swear I will."

"We need to be rational with this," Nico says. "We can't just barge in on his office and demand he take it back."

"'Course we can," Thalia says. "Get your jackets, punks. We're going to show him what happens when he messes with us."

* * *

The journey is slightly unspectacular.

First of all, they're all still in their pajamas, and it's also around ten, which is rush-hour for normal people with normal jobs, so it's not as if they're very sneaky about it. Also, despite their fame and money, they never invested in a car because none of them ever got their licenses, so they have to take the bus.

Consequently, they get a few stares. Percy isn't sure if it's because they're famous, they're all in pajamas, or they're famous in pajamas on the bus, but the looks only get him more riled.

When they reach Olympus Records he's ready to bust some heads. He bursts out of the bus and marches towards the glass double-doors, attracting the attention of several passers-by (it's the same cluster of them, who just camp by the doors and hope they can spy some celebrities, so this must be giving them all strokes). The security guards by the door make a move towards him as he approaches but he just pushes them aside and stalks inside the building.

"It's okay, we're recording here," Nico rushes to say as Percy darts through. "We're the Demigods, we're just on an errand."

Percy knows the way to Mr D's office like the back of his hand. Some of the assistants are giving him peculiar looks but he ignores them, he ignores them all, and barges his way into Mr D's office completely unannounced.

Mr D is sitting across from four young teenage boys, all with tragic 2007 fringes and hopeful expressions on their faces. They must have sent a demo in. A day ago, hell, a few hours ago, Percy would have been thrilled, and probably given them all high-fives and offered to buy them McDonald's, because only a couple of years ago he was in that position and he loves seeing people achieve their dreams, but his only thought right now is Annabeth. "Dionysus."

"Percy," Mr D says, looking a little taken off-guard. "I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"And I don't care," Percy says. "We need to talk."

"You're not due in the studio until tomorrow."

"I'm aware of that."

Upon realising Percy isn't budging, Mr D sighs. "Look, Percy," he says. "Can this wait? I'm in the middle of something."

"You're wasting your time," Percy says to the four boys, without taking his eyes off Mr D. "This guy's a dirtbag and he'll only ruin you." He seizes a pen off Mr D's desk and writes his email address on one of the boys' arms. "You're getting signed, right? Email me your demo. I'll do something for you, I promise."

"Percy," Mr D says, sounding angry now.

"Go," someone says, and suddenly it's Nico. "Come on, guys, just move. I promise, we're not ruining your chances of making it. We just need to talk. Come on."

Baffled, the four boys finally allow themselves to be herded out. They all look a little star-struck, probably recognising them as The Demigods, and in any other situation Percy would make sure to give them big wide smiles and maybe a fist-bump, like bros do, but he's not in the mood right now. Neither are his cousins. Thalia is standing crossly by the door, snapping on her gum like a fed-up alligator, and Nico looks remarkably irritated for someone wearing just a hoodie and Crocs.

Percy feels almost proud. They're that angry for _his_ sake. He's got good cousins. After this whole mess is sorted out he'll make sure to buy them Chipotle.

He barely waits for the door to close before he's whirling on Mr D. "You."

Mr D, despite the initial surprise at having them barge in, looks almost pleased, like he'd expected this to happen, and simply for that reason Percy wants to put his hands around his flabby neck. "Hello. Won't you all sit down?"

Nico moves towards a chair. Thalia pulls him back.

Percy is so angry he thinks he's almost trembling. "What the hell did you do, Dionysus?"

"I don't know, Percy. What did I do?"

"You know very well what you did, you scheming buttwipe," Thalia snarls.

"I'm afraid you may have to explain."

He's still smirking. It takes all of Percy's self-control not to flip a table.

"This whole stunt with me cheating on Annabeth?" he challenges, and Mr D's smirk grows wider. "About the picture that you took from Thalia's phone, knowing it would look like me, so you could sabotage my relationship with Annabeth?"

Mr D's eyes sparkle. "I don't know anything about that."

Percy slams his hands down on the table. "That's _crap_!" he shouts, and he sees everyone in the room flinch, including Mr D. "That's crap and you know it! You did this!"

Mr D stands up and smooths down the labels of his jacket. "You'll thank me later," he says.

Percy gapes at him. " _Thank you later_ –? You just ruined one of the best things in my life, and you're saying I'll _thank you later_? Are you out of your mind?"

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Nico promises. "We'll prove it was you and you'll be destroyed in a second, just you _wait_."

Mr D's nostrils flare, and suddenly his stare turns from mischievous to cruel and Percy feels his breath catch in his throat. He's only seen Mr D's death stare a few times, only felt the ice of it once or twice, but it's cold, and it hurts. He looks almost evil, and that's what scares Percy the most. "See," he says, in a cold voice, "what you three have yet to learn is everything I do is _faultless_. I don't make mistakes. I'm a businessman. This is what I do best."

They're all silent. Percy can hear his heartbeat in his ears.

"You have no way of proving it was me, and even if you did, I've technically done nothing wrong. I never said anything about breaking you two up. I didn't even send the picture with a tagline. It's quite simple to just – accidentally send a picture."

"You illegally obtained the picture from my phone," Thalia says, barely disguising the tremble in her voice. "Citizens of the US have the right to privacy."

Mr D nods, almost approvingly. "You know your laws."

"Yeah, well, if our manager wasn't a manipulative pot-bellied fraud I wouldn't have to."

Mr D ignores the insult. "See," he says. "I did contemplate that. But isn't it so good that I didn't go through your phone and take the picture that way."

Thalia frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Let us see." Mr D takes his own phone out his pocket. "Sent to my text messages at precisely three minutes past one pm yesterday was this exact picture from your phone." He puts his phone down and smiles, a sickly sweet grin, like a wolf, at her.

Thalia is almost shaking. "You know I damn well didn't send you that. You must have done it from my phone."

"But you can't prove that, now, can you?" Dionysus says, and suddenly Percy realises how awful this whole situation is. He'd underestimated Dionysus – they all had. They thought, at worst, he was just a gross guy who sweated too much and drank too much – but he was a lot smarter than they gave him credit for. This plan was seamless. Completely, utterly, seamless. "Face it. You can't do anything."

"Yes we can," Nico says. "That picture has a time stamp on it. I can just search the paparazzi pictures from that day and we'll prove to you that I was wearing that shirt."

"Good idea," Thalia says sagely. She glares at Mr D. "Your ass is going down in flames."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Mr D says. "Nico?"

Nico stares down at his phone in disbelief.

"Nico?" Thalia prompts, slightly impatiently.

Nico sighs. "He's right."

"What do you mean?" Thalia demands.

In defeat, Nico holds out his phone. Percy sees the picture on it – it was taken the same day they'd visited the library, with the time-stamp in the corner to prove it. It's the shot of Nico on the swing, with Percy leaning on the frame with his phone in hands and Thalia looking cross somewhere nearby.

And Percy's wearing the shirt.

"You spilt your milkshake," Thalia whispers. "Of course."

"Do you now understand," Mr D says, "that this is not something you'll ever be able to get out of? I thought this all through. The second I saw that picture on your phone, Thalia, I knew exactly what I had to do. It's not hard, honestly. You made my job very easy."

Percy can feel himself begin to fill with anger again. He clenches his hands into fists so he won't lash out and punch the table or something.

"But," Mr D continues, "on the bright side, think of the sales! Your album is guaranteed to do brilliantly. You'll sell thousands of copies." He smiles at them. "Now, I suppose you're here, you'd be best heading to the studio and starting on those break-up songs, huh, Percy?"

Percy can only stare at him. He thinks he might explode.

Mr D's head tilts. "Percy?"

"You're sick."

It spits out of him like venom. Mr D has the audacity to look almost wounded. "Percy–"

"No!" Percy shouts. "No! Don't _Percy_ me! You ruined it! You ruined things with Annabeth for and I hate you! You knew damn well it was Nico in those pictures and yet you were so afraid of album sales that you sabotaged one of the best things that's ever happened to me, all for what? To keep those millions in your bank account?"

The playful look has faded back out. Mr D straightens. "I did what I had to do."

"Bullcrap," Percy snaps tightly. "You– oh my God, I can't, this is so stupid, oh my _God_."

"She wasn't good for you, Percy. You knew why I had to do this. It's all about–"

"What, Dionysus? Money? Fame? If you wanted that then write and record your own albums instead of leeching off us and ruining everything in our way so it ends up that way."

"Percy–"

Percy shakes his head. "I can't do this." He runs a hand across his face, tiredly, feels it catch in his hair. The anger has all faded out and it's replaced with just a big cold empty void as he realizes that as soon as he walks out this office reality is going to smack him in the face, and he's going to have to go on without Annabeth. "I can't do this."

"Go," Thalia says. "Nico, go with him."

"I don't need you babying me!"

Nico is unmoving. "Tough luck, bud. Come on, let's get burritos."

Percy allows himself to be dragged out the room. Nico's grip on his arm is firm and reassuring, and he lets himself be taken out of the room, out of the building, to the Mexican joint down the road. He feels numb, almost. An ache starts to spread through his body. He's mechanical in almost everything he does, and even though he loves burritos, he orders like he's on autopilot and eats like he's being forced to. Every movement hurts.

His _heart_ hurts. This can't be happening.

A few minutes into their food, Nico puts a hand on his arm. "You all right?"

"Not really."

"I'm sorry."

And Percy knows he is, and his face crumples. "I love you."

"I love you too, bro."

Thalia appears at their table maybe ten minutes later. She looks a little rumpled, but okay. She slides into the chair next to them.

"You okay?" Nico says.

"I'm fine." Thalia sounds distracted. "Percy, you might want to see this."

"I kind of don't."

Thalia holds up her phone anyway. It's open on a text conversation between her and Piper. The message Thalia sent her is from this morning, and there's a new text from Piper, only a couple of minutes ago.

Percy's throat goes dry reading it.

 **Piper** : i think it's best if you guys don't try contact us again. thanks.

He tries calling Annabeth's number, just in case. It rings exactly once, and then directs him to her voicemail.

She's blocked him.

He puts his head in his hands to try and muffle out the sounds of his life crumpling to pieces right in front of him.

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **im super excited to post this chapter because i've been planning this since the beginning of the story and it's finally HERE in words and im very pleased with the way this turned out so maybe you guys can rejoice with me about how cool everything is instead of the fact that percabeth is broken up? ha? ha?**

 **anyway!**

 **i want to say a very very big thank you to absolutely everyone who reviewed last chapter. you guys are the loveliest sweetest people ever and you are all excellent and amazing (allineedisabook i nearly teared up at your review you are too nice to me ily) and thank you so much for 380 reviews! that's nuts honestly and it's all down to you so thank you from the bottom of my heart honestly**

 **anyway that's really it for today pals. thank you ever so much for your lovely reviews and i shall see you next saturday! xxx**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

* * *

"Memories are pay-per-view  
It costs too much to think of you  
I'm hanging by a thread"

\- Story Of Another Us, 5 Seconds Of Summer

* * *

"I brought doughnuts," Nico announces as he sails into the room.

Thalia looks up from her guitar with her face lit up and makes grabby hands towards the box in his hand. Nico offers it to her, but just as she reaches for one he quickly takes it out of her way and offers one to Percy.

"Hey!" Thalia whines.

"Percy," Nico says, with a bow.

Percy eyes them. "These are jam doughnuts."

"That's an excellent observation," Nico says.

Percy folds his arms over the edge of his guitar. "Is there any particular reason you bought jam doughnuts?"

"Not in the slightest," Nico says.

"They're my favourite."

"What a coincidence," Thalia says. "We didn't know."

"You both hate jam doughnuts."

"Again," Nico says, slightly tightly. "An excellent observation."

Percy sighs. "You really don't have to do this."

"Do what?" Thalia asks innocently.

"You're not subtle. All week you've been doing everything I ask. You always make my favourite food for dinner, and you keep buying me things, and you let me choose what we watch on TV and where we'll eat out, and I get it. But you don't have to. It's not that big of a deal."

"But it is, though," Nico says, his voice suddenly whiny. "Percy, you've just had the love of your life brutally torn out of your arms by He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. It's the least we can do."

"You don't have to treat me like I'm glass."

"We just want to make sure you're feeling okay," Thalia says, gently. "You're grieving. And it's completely understandable, because Dionysus is a dickbag who deserves to get run over by a truck, but what other option do we have? Literally last week we saw a blonde girl on the train. And you started crying."

"I didn't cry, okay, I just had something in my eye."

"Yeah, tears," Nico says, and Percy opens his mouth to retort but Thalia beats him to it.

"Regardless!" she cries. "Point is, Percy, you're in a funk, and we're a _team_. We're with each other almost twenty-four seven, and if one of us is upset then we all need to work together to make sure that they get back on their feet, otherwise we all feel the burden."

Percy stays silent.

"So," Thalia says, "that means if we have the opportunity to buy you jam doughnuts because they're your favourite dammit we're going to buy you jam doughnuts, all right? Let us help, at least for now. Mr D has us backed into a corner. We need to just survive for now, and then we'll try and sort out the bigger issue."

"Jam doughnuts won't solve anything."

"But they sure as hell don't hurt," Nico says. "Also I spent around fifteen dollars on these so they're going to end up down your throat whether you want them or not."

Percy stares at the box in his hands for a long time. Then, he sighs.

"Okay," he says. "Thanks."

"Finally," Nico says. "A thank you."

Thalia elbows him.

"I mean, you're welcome," he corrects. "But I am taking several, just so you know. I love you but I ain't forking fifteen dollars for a box of doughnuts I don't get a fair portion of."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

Percy just smiles and takes one. He's got a broken heart and half a song in front of him and a jam doughnut that doesn't really taste of anything, but he's also got two of the most thoughtful, considerate, block-headed cousins in the whole world, and he loves them endlessly for it.

* * *

This whole Annabeth situation has been hard on all of them, to say the least.

They haven't been in contact with almost anyone who stemmed from the relationship. Piper won't even speak to them, just leaves all of Thalia's texts on read, and doesn't respond. Percy tries calling Annabeth almost every day, even though he knows it's potentially useless. She's blocked him, and he knows it because every time he tries it rings once and goes to voicemail. None of his calls will show up, but he's just praying that somehow, he'll try enough that one day she'll unblock him, and maybe pick up.

In the back of his head, he knows how useless it all is. Dionysus has seized his relationship by its hind legs and crushed it flat, and there's no way out of it, because everything he has to say sounds like a bad excuse. And Annabeth won't even pick up her damn phone, and there's nothing he can do about it, but he keeps trying, keeps praying, keeps praying there's something at least for him.

After the sixth day of trying, Nico had gently suggested maybe to stop. But Percy is feverish, so he keeps going.

He's not coping very well. Whatever crap Dionysus had spieled about his heartache helping his creativity was just that: crap. It's like since losing Annabeth all his creative outlets have been stoppered, and he can't even write the simplest of hooks. He's a dead weight, and he knows it, because Thalia and Nico are doing all the work, have practically written half the album at this point, and Percy hates how useless he's become, because it's not as Annabeth was his lifeline or anything, he can still live without her, but it's just hard.

He's become a bit erratic, obsessive. Only the other day he had looked up at the time and realised it was past eleven and he was still in the studio, by himself, and he had run his fingers to the bone on his guitar, played so hard and ferocious and so many times that he was bleeding. He can't even get the simplest thing right, not even the stupidest, easiest guitar riff in the entire world, and so he had to obsessively play it over and over again until he's almost worn his fingers down to the knuckles.

It's not killing him, but it's continually breaking his spine and then fixing it up only to break it again, and that might be worse, because this way the pain is still just as bad now as it was two weeks ago, like it's fresh.

Sometimes he watches over the livestream in the kitchen. Someone uploaded the clip of just him and Annabeth on YouTube, and it's already garnered over a million views, and Percy thinks half of them might be from him. He remembers it so vividly, it's like it happened yesterday, that sometimes he can almost still smell Annabeth's shampoo and see the freckles on her cheeks.

"You're not doing yourself any good, Perce," Nico says one day, when he catches him.

"Shut up, you're stupid."

"Not any stupider than you," Nico says. "You need to stop. You won't heal this way."

"This is my way of healing."

"Whatever you say, bro."

Percy thinks maybe the biggest smack in the face was the delivery of the box. They've been spending so many hours at the studio sometimes they don't get home until at least eleven or twelve, and one day when they arrived back to their apartment there was a cardboard box sitting on the mat, unlabelled.

"Did anyone order anything?" Percy asks. He has to, just in case a fan found their address and sent, like, a hand again, and they get put on trial for her death because they were the one with the hand. Because that's happened before.

"I swear, Nico," Thalia says, "if it's another one of your stupid whim furniture ideas I will cut you."

"They're not stupid," Nico says, slightly sulkily. "That human-shaped lampshade was a stroke of genius."

"It just was a stroke. Period."

"Well," Percy says, picking the box up. It's heavy. "Let's see what it is."

It's not a hand, and it's not one of Nico's stupid whim furniture ideas. In fact, it's kind of worse.

Percy puts it on the island in the middle of the kitchen and opens it, and suddenly he feels like he's just been sucker-punched in the gut. In the box are just piles and piles of neatly-folded clothes – _Percy's_ clothes. At first, he doesn't know how or why it's here, until he spies a pair of track pants he hasn't seen in a while, and a couple of hoodies he thought he'd lost, and that treacherous Nirvana shirt that had put them all in this mess in the first place.

These were the clothes of his Annabeth had collected. And now she had sent them all back.

"Oh God," Thalia whispers behind him.

Percy can't even speak. He pulls out the first object – a green stripy T-shirt of his that Annabeth had always adored wearing. It was one of her favourites. Privately, he'd always thought she looked much better in it then he did, and it was the shirt he put the least fuss up about, because he loved her in it. Hands trembling, he presses it against his nose, and all he can smell is laundry detergent. It's not even Annabeth's laundry detergent, either.

She had these dry-cleaned, to properly get him out of her life. There's not a trace of her scent left behind.

"I think I'm going to cry," he says, muffled into the T-shirt.

Nico comfortingly strokes his back. "Need a hand unpacking these?"

"Yes, please."

Together, they put the box on their living room floor, and start sorting through it. Percy never realised quite how many clothes Annabeth nicked, not until they're all lying strewn around his living room like ghosts. It hurts him, because he can recall times where she wore most of this, and it pains him to know that only a couple of weeks she was wearing all of it. Maybe even longer. Maybe after she heard the news she put on all of his clothes and cried. Maybe that's why the green shirt was at the top – because it was the one she couldn't bear to give back.

But she got them dry-cleaned, and folded, and hand-delivered them back, and she probably hasn't even touched them since they came back to her from the dry-cleaners, so any and all memories that he associates them with have been dissolved with a simple wash. There's not a trace left on them. At this point, it doesn't even matter if she wore is clothes for weeks or not at all – she's not on them anymore.

This is the stamp of approval. They're done. And Percy is slowly packing away any and all proof that they ever were.

He comes to the Nirvana T-shirt, and stares at it. Percy had been particularly reluctant to let her take this one, because it was special to him, but she had just kissed him on the nose.

 _"_ _I'll look much better in it then you do," she says, with a small teasing smile._

 _"_ _You won't want to wear clothes that has my name stitched into them."_

 _"_ _Quite the contrary," she says, pulling it on. "Whenever I forget your name, because you're just forgettable like that, all I'll have to do is look at my collar and remind myself who you are."_

 _Percy is offended. "_ Forgettable _?"_

 _"_ _I'm kidding, you buffoon. The name reminds me I'm yours."_

Now all it brings him is sour memories, because it's that damned shirt that's the reason they're in this mess in the first place. He doesn't want to pack it away. He knows it's his dad's, and he knows that only a week ago it was one of his most treasured possessions, but now he just wants it gone.

"Perce?" Thalia prompts gently.

"We need to throw this one out," Percy says. "I don't want it."

"Let's burn it," Nico says.

"That's a terrible idea," Thalia says.

"No, that's good," says Percy. "Let's burn it."

So they do. They gather the T-shirt and they all cram themselves onto the fire escape, and then Nico holds the T-shirt up. It's a slightly chilly day, with a wind that nips a bit and stings his cheeks, but it describes how he feels perfectly. Without a single feeling of remorse, he takes the lighter, flicks it on, and holds it to the hem.

Slowly, the shirt burns away. It's not as big or flashy as he thinks they all expected, but it's kind of cathartic. At one point, Nico just lays it on the railing of the fire escape, and they all watch as gradually it all turns into ash. Something in Percy's heart hurts when the Nirvana logo disappears completely, and something even more when finally the PERCY on the collar burns away, too, but he's glad it's gone.

They all watch the ash gently blow away with the breeze.

And then: "Let's go back inside," Thalia says.

Percy stands and watches it for just a few more seconds, and then allows himself to be led back indoors.

* * *

"Percy, Percy, what can you tell us about Annabeth?"

"What happened between you guys?"

"Percy, tell us what happened!"

"Who was the girl? Did you mean to cheat on Annabeth?"

"Percy!"

Percy ducks his head as they clamber out of the car. To relieve his mind, he, Nico and Thalia had decided to go for Italian, but they had been mobbed just as they sat there waiting for their meals by paparazzi and had to run into the kitchens to hide and take their food home in cardboard boxes. The paps wouldn't leave them alone, though, because as they darted out the restaurant they had chased them into the car, and now, as the car pulls up in front of their apartment block, the cameras are there.

"My God," Thalia mutters. "You'd think they don't have lives."

"They probably don't," Nico says.

"You didn't have to throw your spaghetti at them," Percy says.

"Yes I did," Thalia says. "And I'll do it again if they keep harassing us outside our apartment."

They do. As soon as the door to the car slips open, Percy is almost immediately blinded by flashing lights and yelling. The worst part is, is that they're all about Annabeth, because true to Mr D's word their fragmented relationship has been the hot topic for the past week, and now everywhere Percy goes he's just bombarded by questions about the two of them, and he hates it.

Even he doesn't know where he stands. All he knows is that he's pretty Annabeth hates him and he's pretty sure they're over.

"This way, Percy!"

"Percy!"

"What can you tell us about Annabeth?"

"Do you regret cheating on her?"

"Who was the girl, Percy?"

"Have you seen what Annabeth has said about you on social media, Percy?"

That stops him. Percy knows that he's not meant to let street paps distract him, and the best thing to do is to just ignore them and eventually they'll go away, but he hasn't allowed himself to look at any of Annabeth's social media since they broke up, because if he went on our Twitter and saw her rant about Masterchef he might just break down completely, but they've got him now.

"No," he says. "What did she say?"

The cameras go off even faster. The reporters are screaming at him now. They're pleased they've caught his attention.

"She's deleted all the pictures," the man says. "Said on Twitter she was sad to say but you're done, the two of you." He prods his microphone even closer to Percy's mouth. "What do you think? Do you regret it? Are you done? Do you agree with her? Was your split a good one?"

"All right, all right, out the way."

It's Thalia. She puts her arm through his and starts leading him through the throng of reporters, a nice, steady, safe anchor through all the chaos. The reporters are yelling even louder, because if one got Percy's attention, they all could, and they all want to make headlines, but all Percy can think about Annabeth confirmed it it's really over.

There's no hope for him. He can call all he wants, and every single of them will end up at the very bottom of Annabeth's missed call list. They're done.

"Move!" Thalia shouts. "I bought two pasta dishes, I've got ravioli now! If you don't want to be covered in that I suggest you bog off!"

They part for her like the red sea, although some are still snapping pictures and shrieking. Together, the three of them wrestle their way through the people and into the lobby, and then they hurtle themselves into the elevator just before it closes so the paps can't get in there with them.

It's empty, save for a girl on her phone chewing bubblegum. She doesn't particularly care that they're there.

"Thank God," Nico breathes. "I thought we were going to get eaten alive. Or lose a limb, in the least."

"Well, we're all still here," Thalia says. "Fully-limbed."

Percy is still numb. He stares at the floor.

"Percy?" Thalia asks.

"Maybe he thinks he's actually lost a limb," Nico suggests.

"Shut up, Nico," Thalia says harshly. "He's lost a lot more than just a limb."

"It's really over," Percy mumbles. "She said it herself."

Thalia and Nico share confused looks.

"I'm sorry?" Thalia asks.

"Annabeth tweeted," Percy says quietly. "She said we're over."

"I thought you weren't looking at Annabeth's socials," Nico says.

"I didn't. One of the reporters said it."

"Oh." Nico frowns. "Well, they talk a load of garbage anyway. I bet he just said it to get your attention."

They're trying to make him feel better, but Percy is so filled with emotion, that he can't help himself when he snaps, "Well, they didn't make it up, did they?"

Nico holds his hands up. "Whoa, okay. Don't get mad at me."

"What do you expect me to do?" Percy shouts. "You're not doing anything except treating me like I'm made of _porcelain_! I'm not a kid! I'm fine! Stop trying to protect me, okay?"

"Percy," Thalia says. "You need to calm down."

Percy laughs, a little hysterically. "Calm _down_?"

"You're pissed," Thalia says. "And if you don't control yourself you're going to do some stuff you'll regret."

"Are you _hearing_ yourself? You're telling me to _calm down_. The love of my life has literally been taken out of my life and every day I have to wake up and see that and be reminded that it wasn't even my damn fault and yesterday she delivered a box of my clothes by hand to our door, she stood on our fricking doorstep and gave back all my clothes, she was outside our door, our door, and everywhere I go all anyone can ever talk about is her, and me, and how badly I messed up, even though I didn't do anything, and you're telling me to calm down?"

Thalia takes a step forward. "Percy–"

"No, screw you," Percy shouts. The elevator doors slide open and he marches out. "You don't know I'm going through, you can't tell me anything."

" _Percy_!"

Percy ignores her. He flings open the door to their apartment, storms into his bedroom, slams the door and then collapses on the bed.

For the first time, he allows himself to cry.

* * *

 **percabethforever** : **codenamewisegirl** is it true? pls don't say its true

→ **codenamewisegirl** : it's true im sorry x thank you all for being so respectful ❤︎

* * *

 **A/N hey all!**

 **how are we all on this fine day? i myself am simply spiffing because um i got FIFTY REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER WHAT**

 **that's literally crazy. i have never got that many reviews on one chapter before. you are all so wonderful! i'm so terribly sorry for causing you heartache and whatever and breaking up percabeth and here you have a nice angsty chapter that's a wee bit shorter than normal to keep you satisfied**

 **also in getting 50 reviews last chapter we surpassed 400!**

 **guys honestly. you are the SWEETEST people ever ever ever! i canot believe we've got 400, and we're only on chapter 20! that's nuts and i'm so pleased and it's all down to you so thank you so much i thank you from the bottom of my heart you don't know how much this means to me**

 **as tradition follows i would normally do a big response thing to all of you except there were literally 50 of you, so im a wee bit unable to do that otherwise this a/n would be the size of texas, but i'll do it next chapter because i sincerely doubt i'll get 50 reviews for this chapter so woo! if you have any questions about the story do review them and stuff xx**

 **also - how would you feel about the next chapter being from annabeth's pov (like still in third person but from her)? im geniunely considering it, and i've worked in a stupid little thing that could work so i mean if you want**

 **anyway! thank you all ever so much for all your loveliness (also pray for me i've got my school play literally every day of next week so hopefully i dont die) and i shall see you all next saturday! i love you! xxxxx**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

* * *

"Come back, come back, come back to me  
Like you could, you could if you just said you're sorry  
I know that we could work it out somehow

– If This Was A Movie, Taylor Swift

* * *

 _"You don't get toast if I don't get a kiss. I'm just saying."_

 _"There. Now, scram. I want peanut butter."_

 _"Come on, Beth. That was barely a kiss."_

 _"I'm working!"_

 _"It's not as if your viewers don't appreciate it!"_

 _"My God, Percy, go!"_

Annabeth sniffles. A few rebellious tears escape and she knuckles at her eyes angrily. She shouldn't be crying. It's kind of all she's been doing these months – it was worse near the beginning, but she thought she'd been doing a pretty good job more recently at being happy. And she is. She shouldn't be crying.

The video progresses, and a few more tears slip out.

However, before she can hate herself and cry even more, any and all thoughts of further self-pitying and angst fly straight out the window when she hears the front door click open.

"Honey, I'm home!" Piper trills.

Annabeth hurriedly slams her laptop closed and scrubs at her eyes. "Piper!" she says quickly. "You weren't meant to be home for another hour!"

"Trains got delayed," Piper says, bustling through the living room with her shopping bags. She doesn't even look at Annabeth, instead opting to dump all of them on the table. "I couldn't be bothered to find out a different route, so I just cancelled plans." She turns around and beams at Annabeth. "But hey, at least this means that we do have time to fit in all five Twilight movies today, so you can't put it off."

"Piper, I told you, I don't want to watch Twilight."

"And I don't particularly care," Piper says. Her eyebrows furrow. "Hey, are you all right? You look a bit pale."

Annabeth feels herself go hot. "I'm so all right."

"No you're not. Are you sick?" Piper approaches her, concerned. But when she's only a few feet away, she stops, and folds her arms. "Oh, no."

"I don't know what you're making that face for."

"Not again, Annabeth."

"Nope."

"Come on."

"I didn't."

"Open your laptop."

"No."

Piper gives her a look. "Laptop."

"It's mine," Annabeth says feebly.

Piper lunges for it anyway. Annabeth tries to snatch it back before Piper's grubby little hands can get around it, but she's too slow, and Piper holds it above her head with a triumphant "aha!" Annabeth tries to get it back, but Piper steps away at that exact moment, and Annabeth is dragged off the sofa, torso first, until she's lying on her stomach in a puddle of blankets on the floor.

"No, Piper," she says desperately. "I was researching things – "

Piper opens the laptop, and the entire room goes silent. Annabeth sheepishly stares at Piper's shoes.

"Annabeth," Piper says, in a soft voice.

"I'm over him."

"This is the third time this month."

"I'm over him," Annabeth says again.

"Then why are you watching this damn livestream again?"

Annabeth can't respond. Slightly petulantly, mostly unhappily, she gathers all her blankets, and crawls back onto the sofa, stretching out like a cat and resting her head on the armrest. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, babe," Piper says. "Here, scooch up."

Annabeth doesn't, so Piper just sits on her legs. Annabeth makes a noise of discomfort and turns around, so she's lying on her back. "I couldn't help it," she says. "I thought I'd be over him. I thought watching it would just prove I was."

Piper reassuringly rubs her back.

"He cheated on me, Piper. He _cheated_ on me. I thought he'd be better than Luke, but he wasn't, because he cheated, and it from the beginning, too, you saw that date stamp, and yet I'm _still_ not over him." She sighs. "What's _wrong_ with me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Piper says immediately. "You were just in love."

"I know." Annabeth sighs unhappily. "I should hate him."

"It's never that easy."

"Yeah."

"Which is why," Piper says, slightly nervously, and suddenly Annabeth frowns at her because _where's this_ _going_ , "Jason and I have decided to set you up on a date."

Annabeth sits up so aggressively Piper almost falls off the sofa. "What?"

"You can't hit me," Piper reasons, "because I'm your best friend."

"A _date_? Piper, are you crazy?"

"He seems nice," Piper says. "He's from Jason's work."

"Do I know him?" Suddenly, a thought occurs. "Wait, does he know _me_?"

"No," Piper says. "At least, I shouldn't think so. And this'll be good for you. Fresh start, and all that."

"What about setting me up on a date to fix my broken heart sounds _anywhere_ near a good idea?"

"Quite a few things, actually. Come on, Beth. I know it's hard but you've got to get over Percy, and if you keep sitting on this sofa pining and watching videos of you both you're not going to get anywhere. Even if this goes terribly, at least you've done something that isn't cry and eat ice cream."

"You are highly understating all my achievements post-Percy. I've done lots of beneficial things."

"You filmed a video and started sobbing while you were editing it."

"That's not the point," Annabeth says, a little aggressively, because Piper is kind of right but that's not what's important here. "The point is, is that you've set me up on a date with a total stranger so I can get over Percy. It's an awful idea."

"Your constant pessimism is quite upsetting," Piper says.

Annabeth scowls at her. "I just had my heart broken, I can act however I please."

"Whatever."

Annabeth sighs. "When even is this date? And where?"

"Oh." Piper looks a little sheepish. "Uh. Tomorrow?"

" _Tomorrow_?"

"And here?"

"Are you crazy?"

"I thought nothing could go better than a nice home-cooked meal!"

The last home-cooked meal Annabeth had as a date was pasta with Percy.

Annabeth doesn't voice her thoughts. Piper might hit her with a pillow or something. "What if it turns out he is some crazed fan or something? You've just given him our address and also a way into our house."

"He's not a crazed fan," Piper says. "Jason is a very good spy for me. Turns out this bloke isn't really much of an Internet fan. Kind of old-school. Apparently he's more newspaper. He thinks the Internet is a bit of a waste."

Annabeth blinks. "That's already about nineteen things we don't have in common."

"Well, opposites attract, as they say," Piper says, obviously trying her hardest to remain pleasant. "I'm sure the two of you will work wonderfully together. Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"

"He turns out to be a serial killer?"

"I can assure you he won't be a serial killer."

"You don't know that. He literally said he doesn't use the Internet. That's kind of serial-killer-y."

"You're going on a date and this is final," Piper says firmly. "I don't care if you hate every minute of it. It's something. And you need something right now, because at the moment all you have a Google history filled with Percabeth YouTube compilations. Jason said he's nice. Gentlemanly, and whatever. You need this."

Annabeth stares at her for a long time, and then sighs. "Okay, whatever."

"Great." Piper claps her hands together. "Now, I'll get the snacks ready. We're going to have to start now if we want to watch all the Twilight movies before two am."

* * *

Annabeth kind of wants to throw up.

"You look great," Jason says, in lieu of a comfort. Normally it would work because Annabeth loves Jason but it's his fault she's in this mess in the first place so she just glares at him.

"That's not what I'm worried about."

"He'll be fine, I promise you," Piper assures, smoothing Annabeth's sweater down and fiddling with her hair. "This will go great."

"What's his name, anyway?" Annabeth asks. "You haven't even told me."

"Octavian," Jason says.

"That's– his name?"

"Hey, don't poke fun," Piper says. "Your name is also stupid."

Annabeth ignores her. "Is he nice?"

Jason pulls an awkward face that does nothing but make Annabeth feel even worse. "Uh?"

"Jason!"

"He's– blond?"

"Right, well, that's good to know," Annabeth says. "What else? Does he also like cutting throats and sacrificing chickens to the ancient gods?"

Jason looks slightly desperate. "He's – blond."

"I told you he was a serial killer," Annabeth says to Piper. "Cancel this immediately."

"There must be more to him than that," Piper says. "Come on, Jase."

"What, you haven't met him?" Annabeth demands.

"Of course not. But Jason has. And you trust Jason's judgement."

"Yeah, not when his only form is judgement is that he's blond!"

"Hey," Jason says weakly.

"That was your cue to assure me that there are other assets to his personality."

"Well, there are," Jason says, but he doesn't look very confident. "He's good at accounting. He's got blue eyes. I think he has a niece or nephew or something, because he always carries around teddy bears."

"See?" Piper says. "He must be good with children."

"Yeah," Annabeth says uneasily. The entire situation suddenly feels too stilted, stifling. "Look, can we please just cancel? Just call Octavian and tell him I've come down with something, like a cold. I really don't want to do this."

"Do you want to get over Percy?" Piper asks, and Annabeth falls silent. "That's what I thought."

"I can do that in many other ways," Annabeth says weakly, as Piper picks up her coat from the floor. "Like yoga. Or therapy!"

"Have fun, Annabeth," Piper says. "We'll be back soon."

Annabeth scowls at them both. They're going for a date, both of them, and they're probably going to have a simply smashing time because they both like each other and they're grossly in love, while she sits at home on a date of her own with a stranger who she knows nothing except the fact that he's blond and hates the Internet about, so. Clearly this night is already looking promising.

"Have fun," she says grumpily.

"We will," Piper says. She smooths Annabeth's hair down on one side, cups her cheek, and then pulls away. "We'll be back in a couple of hours. You know the emergency drill?"

"Heart eyes emoji for okay, squid emoji for mildly uncomfortable, girl fairy emoji for something's off and red stop sign for danger I need an out," Annabeth recites in a monotone. "Yes, I understand."

"Good," Piper says. "Love you."

"Love you too."

The door slams.

Annabeth is left with an hour or so until Octavian arrives – _Octavian_ , crikey – and because her laptop is currently upstairs updating she really has nothing to do except read. And oddly she hasn't really enjoyed reading much recently. She thinks it's because most of her novels are romance, and, well.

She collapses on the sofa and stares up at the ceiling. She hasn't had a lot of time to think about the whole situation, not properly. Ever since she first saw the article, amongst hundreds of notifications all tagging her, and dozens and dozens of missed calls from friends and family, from _Percy_ , she hasn't been really sure what to think. Piper has been her saving grace through most of it, because since they both sat down and read through every single article they could find she hasn't really left her alone. She smothered her for the first week, which she had needed. It was just constant coddling and ice cream and breaks from social media altogether, and then, when Annabeth felt too suffocated, Piper almost immediately knew when to back off, just left her to cry in her room wearing all of Percy's clothes.

It's been a bit unhealthy, but it's worked, because here she is, semi-functioning and a little less sad, a couple of months later.

It had been Piper's idea to send back all the clothes, but Annabeth's to dry clean them. Annabeth had been wearing them ever since the news came out, and when Piper had gently suggested she maybe stop Annabeth had sobbed so hard she almost fainted.

"Which is a bit unhealthy," Piper had told her half an hour later, when they were both sitting on the sofa with an ice pack pressed to Annabeth's throbbing head. "So I think maybe you have to. That boy is not worth your time, and the sooner you realise that and start cutting ties the better off you'll be."

It had hurt Annabeth almost physically to put all his clothes back. She thought about keeping maybe one of his shirts, just as a momentum, but when she stared at the packed box on their table, all she could think was _he's no better than Luke_ and suddenly she didn't want any of them anymore.

She just– it's a bit hard, sometimes. They're all public figures, and they're all adults, but that makes it worse. If they weren't, if they were just two people in a tricky time, they would be allowed time, and space. Now, Annabeth has to address everything too early, when she's still unsure.

Then again, if they weren't public figures, she wouldn't have found out he cheated in the first place. And the last time that happened she spent three years in a toxic relationship. Rather she get out early then stay in there until she's just as poisonous as the air she's breathing.

The part that hit her the hardest, she reckons, was just the knowledge that he would do this to her. They had made a promise. At the beginning of their relationship, after she had opened and told him about Luke, he had sworn to never hurt her.

She laughs mirthlessly. Look how that turned out.

She's still hurting. She pretends she's not but she still thinks she loves him, deep down. She's just been listening to Taylor Swift under her covers and looking at paparazzi pictures of them together online, and then also just scrolling through her camera roll. She had to delete all her Percy Instagram posts, too. It hurt too much to open the app to respond to fans on a good day and then immediately see a picture of them, happy together. She'd fall into a slump.

The ironic thing is that it's not the bad memories that hurt the most, because there are none. It's the good ones.

She closes her eyes, and then swings herself upright. She can't think like this anymore. She's read a bunch of blog posts about how to deal with heartache. One of them told her to tackle it head-on, so you become immune to all the memories, but others said to drown out the memories with other things, because they'll just hurt her more, so that's what she's going to do. And to prove it to Percy, she's going to make pasta.

Determined, she heads into the kitchen. She will make this the best date she's ever been on. Octavian isn't going to know what hit him.

He arrives around forty-five minutes later. By the time the doorbell rings, Annabeth has made pasta and a sauce from scratch, and is beginning to make meringues to have with some leftover cake from last week. She's working with more vigour than normal – she thinks it's the sudden burst of vengeance. Piper once told her that the biggest motivation is revenge and anger, although that was when they were both drunk and emotional after The Notebook, so that was probably some Pinterest quote warped by the alcohol, but it appears to be true. Annabeth should think of Percy more often. If she made a photo album all it would take is one flip through for enough motivation to climb a mountain.

She brushes the flour off her jeans, and puts on her best smile. Then she opens the door.

Octavian is most certainly blond and blue-eyed, but any and all forms of attractiveness ends there. His hair is thin and a little straw-like, like it's been blanched, and his eyes are sharp and pale. His everything is pale, to be honest – his skin is whiter than the walls, and he's extremely lanky, like someone got a regular-sized man and stretched him upwards. Annabeth immediately feels slightly uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, she tries for a smile. "Octavian," she says, in a voice that she hopes doesn't sound absolutely mortified. "I'm Annabeth."

"Yes, I'm aware," he says. "May I come in?"

Annabeth blinks. "Uh, sure."

She lets him in. He walks past her like a ghost with a superiority complex, examining every single piece of furniture in the room. Annabeth tries not to feel judged.

Other things are not subtle. Those things being her animals.

As soon as Octavian walks into the living room, all three of them raise their heads. Bradley looks thoroughly unbothered, and, at the sight of Annabeth, meows and leaps off the back of the sofa and comes to rub himself against her legs. Ron and Socks are much more displeased, however. Ron actually starts growling.

"Oh." Octavian pulls a wild face. "You have animals."

"Yeah," Annabeth says. She scoops Bradley up and he happily licks her face. "This baby is Bradley, he's my youngest. The dog is Ron and the cat is Socks."

"Socks," Octavian says.

"Yes," Annabeth says. "Socks."

Socks glares at Octavian.

"You know," Octavian says. "I do have my own animals."

Annabeth perks up. Finally, familiar ground. "Really? What do you have?"

"Here, I'll show you." Octavian takes his bag off his shoulder and starts rummaging through.

Annabeth's eyes widen. She was not expecting him to have brought his pet with him. Isn't that animal cruelty? Just as she's about to point it out, he produces something straggly and slightly mangled-looking, and Annabeth blinks, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

It's not a real animal at all. In fact, it's a stuffed bear.

Those toys he apparently always carried around weren't for children. They were for him.

Dear God.

"Oh," Annabeth says.

"This is Willoughby," Octavian says. "He's my special friend."

Annabeth isn't sure if he's serious. "Your special... he's. Uh."

Octavian regards him proudly. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"He's certainly something," Annabeth says.

"I know." Octavian strokes his head. "You don't mind if he stays with us during dinner?"

Annabeth's eye twitches. This man cannot be for real. "Um. Sure?"

She takes this as her cue to lead him to the kitchen. Octavian finally starts looking like a real person again, when his eyes land on the pot of pasta and a form of distate crosses his face. It's not apleasant emotion but at least he's not talking to a toy bear. "Oh. You made pasta."

"Yes," Annabeth says. "Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all," Octavian says. "Just– I'm gluten intolerant."

"Oh."

But he's not done. "And lactose intolerant too, actually. I'm also allergic to nuts and chocolate, and also egg whites, and strawberries give me rashes."

That's– almost everything Annabeth has made tonight. She looks at her pot of pasta. "Ah."

"I'm very sorry I disrupted your dinner plans."

"No, that's okay. Uh." She frantically thinks of other things he can eat. "I have some olives in my fridge?"

Octavian's face lights up. "Perfect!"

She hands him the tub of half-eaten olives. He attacks them with great gusto.

The dinner passes pretty awkwardly. Annabeth isn't that bothered by the fact that he can't eat any of the food she prepared – more for her, she supposes, and it's a good thing, too, because it tastes pretty damn good – but it's just he doesn't appear to really be one for holding conversations well.

"So," he says, spitting an olive pit almost halfway across the kitchen. "What do you do?"

Standard dinner talk. Annabeth can do this. "Oh," she says, a bit uncomfortably. "I do social media marketing, and stuff."

"Ah." Octavian nods. "So. The Internet."

"Yeah."

"I'm not a big Internet person myself, really."

Annabeth arches an eyebrow. "Is that so."

"I find it quite cumbersome, actually. All these youngsters' brains melting from all the screens. It's quite upsetting, and definitely going to be the downfall of humanity."

"How do you function without the Internet?" Annabeth asks. "Isn't that more cumbersome?"

"Not at all," Octavian says. "Flipping through a dictionary is just so refreshing."

It's also incredibly time-consuming, but Annabeth doesn't mention it.

"Well," she says. "That's quite unique."

"I know," Octavian says. He even has the nerve to roll his eyes. "Everyone is just so obsessed with it, you know? I'm going to be the one to save the world one day, just you watch, because I'll be the only one not staring at a screen."

Annabeth mentally snoozes.

"For example," he continues. "The girl I live next to – did you know she's trying to make a living off of making YouTube videos? The idea!"

Annabeth forces a laugh. "Haha."

"It's simply bizarre," Octavian says. "I mean. What a career! How daft can you be? It's such a pity, too. She's got a very smart brain. Such a shame she's wasting it on crap like YouTube. YouTube careers are for the hopeless who are too dumb to do anything else."

Annabeth's eye twitches. "I wouldn't say that."

"Oh, I would," Octavian says. "Some of these people are so insufferable. They make millions by just being dumb! What about us smart ones?"

That does it. Annabeth places her fork down. "Octavian," she says. " _I_ make a living off of YouTube videos."

Octavian stops. "What?"

"You heard me," she says, her voice calm. "I am one of those hopeless people who are apparently too dumb to do anything."

Octavian finally begins to look a bit scared. "Annabeth–"

"I will have you know," Annabeth says, "that I graduated high school as class valedictorian. I got into an incredibly prestigious university on a Maths scholarship and I was going to be accepted into a firm as the head architect's intern before I decided that YouTube was what I wanted to do. The fact that you can imply something so rude, offensive and extremely untrue is just bizarre."

"Annabeth–"

"I would like it if you please get out of my house," Annabeth says. "And you can take your dumb bear too."

Octavian glanced at the bear, perched on the edge of the table, in shock, like he couldn't believe Annabeth said that. "That's – "

"Octavian," Annabeth says. "I want you out my house, please."

Octavian stared at her, flabbergasted, for a few more moments, before getting up angrily. "Fine," he says. "I will. I didn't even want to be here anyway. I don't want to be infiltrated by people of the likes of you."

"That's a shame," Annabeth says insincerely. "Now, goodbye."

Octavian angrily scoops up his bear, and stuffs it in his backpack. "I would say it's been an honour, but it hasn't," he snipes crossly.

"I'm wounded," Annabeth says. She holds open the door. "Now."

Octavian glares at her one last time, before he huffs and marches out. She throws the door closed behind him, and then closes her eyes with a sigh.

She's never going to get over Percy.

* * *

 **A/N hello everyone!**

 **first of all – thank you so much to everyone who wished me good luck on my school play! it went very well although i am quite exhausted and i did take a fall during rehearsal so now i've nicely banged up both knees (hoorah). you guys are all so so wonderful thank you all.**

 **another thank you should be issued because hey GUESS WHAT WE GOT 50 REVIEWS AGAIN**

 **i am so so sorry to tell you but im not sure i can do a reply thing (only because there are so many of you and also ff's not working very well for me? so if you're reading this on the Saturday it means wo it went up finally but if not it's just being v difficult at the moment (silly ff))**

 **anyway! thank you all so much for 484 reviews (ah that's crazy). i love you all and i shall see you next Saturday!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

* * *

"And to forgive is key to forgetting me  
I'm staring at my reflection"

\- True Love, Jordan Fisher

* * *

Percy finds himself standing in front of Annabeth's apartment block.

This isn't the first time it's happened. Sometimes he just makes a detour so he has an excuse to pass it, doesn't stop to stare, just walks past with the knowledge that somewhere inside it is the girl he loves, and sometimes he just sits on the bench across the road, sipping coffee, on his phone, not paying attention to anything except the glass doors at the front, in the hopes that maybe he'll catch her walking out, and see her in real life instead of just on a screen again. He's never gone inside, because even he knows that would be a little creepy, and also the doorman might call the police if he just kept appearing in the lobby to stare mournfully at the elevator almost every day for about ten minutes before leaving.

But today feels different. He doesn't know why.

He pops into the coffee shop and orders four coffees, to bring back to the studio, and as the barista makes them all he keeps half an eye out for the front doors. Just in case.

What can he say. It's been six months and he's not over her.

He picks up the coffees and then waits outside on the bench for ten minutes, sipping at his.

She doesn't appear.

He doesn't really know what he was expecting. He picks up his bag and then leaves.

* * *

Percy walks into the studio and is just about to announce his presence before he notices something that makes him stop dead in his tracks.

"Why is Nico naked?" Percy asks.

"I think the real question is why aren't you," Nico says, from the recording booth.

"Because I have dignity," Percy says. "And self-respect."

"And coffee, apparently," Thalia says, sniffing the air like a bloodhound. "Give me the goods."

He digs around in his bag and produces her cup of coffee, handing it to her. She likes it black, with no milk, no sugar ("no soul," Nico likes to say), and Percy frankly isn't sure how she drinks it without shriveling up and dying right there on the spot, but then again she's also the girl who accidentally dropped a knife through her foot and instead of screaming or panicking had calmly walked to Starbucks, bought a muffin, and then headed to the hospital like she didn't have a care in the world. Or a knife in the foot.

Thalia eagerly grabs it and takes a sip. She lets out an obnoxious "ahhh". "This is what I needed," she says. "Suddenly I feel motivated."

"Where's mine?" Nico demands.

"Put some pants on and I'll give it to you."

Shamelessly, Nico walks out the booth, and snatches it straight from Percy's hand. "Don't blackmail me like that," he says. "That's against the law."

"So's you walking around completely naked," Percy says. "Or it should be, anyway."

Nico sniffs indignantly and mutters something like, "the disrespect", before strutting back into the recording booth. "Apollo, can we go again?"

"Sure." Apollo, their producer, appears from behind the sound desk, and grabs his own coffee. "Percy, you're an angel."

"Don't flatter him," Nico says.

Percy rolls his eyes, and then flops down on the sofa next to Thalia. He hears the faint sound of the track come from Nico's headphones as Apollo hits a switch, and rests his head against Thalia's shoulder as she flicks through her phone. Automatically, she presses his cheek against the top of his head, her finger flexing against his leg. He can't help but smile. She's a good cousin.

He sleepily watches the screen of her phone. She clicks on the camera, and then holds her phone up so she's got Nico full-frontal in the recording booth in the viewfinder, and then she presses the capture button.

"That probably wasn't a good idea," Percy says.

"Nonsense," Thalia says, opening her Instagram. She uploads the picture to her story and then scribbles over Nico's junk, so you can't see it. "In fact, I would actually say it's quite a good idea. Nudes always boost a celebrity's profile, right? I mean, look at Kim Kardashian."

"Are you posting my nudes?" Nico asks, entirely unbothered.

"You bet I am," Thalia says.

"Your lack of concern for anything to do with this is kind of alarming," Percy says.

"It's a shame," Nico says, as if Percy hasn't spoken. "The six-pack isn't looking too great the moment. You could have done it when I haven't just spent the past few months eating Chinese takeout for dinner."

"Oh, whatever," Thalia says. "Don't be picky."

Nico sulks. "I should choose when I get to post my nudes."

"Or maybe just shouldn't," Percy suggests.

Thalia triumphantly sends the picture off. "There," she says. "Nico, you have now been completely nudified."

"I'm glad," Nico says. "I'm half-way to becoming a reality star."

Percy just sighs. They're both ridiculous.

"Nico?" Apollo calls. "Can we go from the top, on the harmony?"

"Sure," Nico says, putting his headphones back on. "Chorus, right?"

"Yes, please."

The music starts up again, and Percy puts his head back on Thalia's shoulder. She's now scrolling through her Twitter, liking several posts about herself and ugly close-ups of Nico and Percy. Percy snorts half-heartedly alongside her as she keeps going, but then she scrolls past something that makes him sit up.

"Hey," he says.

She looks at him. "What?"

"Go up for a second."

Obligingly, she scrolls upwards. It's a video of the three of them, nothing that seems really out of the ordinary, until you look closer, and you see that it's of them in an elevator.

Even that would have been okay. But the caption reads, "um so not to open any old cans of worms or anything but u know how a couple of months i saw the demigods in an elevetor? well i was scrolling through my camera roll and i realized i had accidentally taken a video and holy crap" and suddenly Percy feels sick because he _recognizes_ that elevator.

 _It's empty, save for a girl on her phone chewing bubblegum._

Thalia seems to realise the magnitude of this at the same time he does. "Oh God," she says.

"Watch it," Percy urges.

She pulls a hesitant face, but presses play anyway.

The video is shaky. You see a split second of their faces, of Percy white with shock and rage and Thalia and Nico relieved and slightly rumpled, before the camera goes down to their feet and stays there. The audio, however, is as clear as a bell.

" _Thank God. I thought we were going to get eaten alive. Or lose a limb, in the least_."

"Oh God," Thalia says again.

Nico takes his headphones off. "What?"

"There's a video," Percy says shakily.

Nico furrows his eyebrows together, and picks his boxers up off the floor. Shoving his legs through them, he comes out of the recording booth, peering over Percy's head.

Thalia skips ahead by a few seconds. Percy feels numb.

"– _ell, they talk a load of garbage anyway. I bet he just said it to get your attention_."

" _Well, they didn't make it up, did they_?"

" _Whoa, okay. Don't get mad at me_."

"This is from the elevator," Nico says, in realisation. "The girl must have filmed it."

Percy is too in shock to say anything in response. All he can do is watch.

" _What do you expect me to do_?" Percy's voice shouts, and real Percy flinches. " _You're not doing anything except treating me like I'm made of_ porcelain _! I'm not a kid! I'm fine! Stop trying to protect me, okay_?"

" _Percy. You need to calm down_."

A hysterical laugh. Percy didn't realise how manic he sounded until now. " _Calm_ down?"

" _You're pissed. And if you don't control yourself you're going to do some stuff you'll regret_."

" _Are you_ hearing _yourself? You're telling me to calm down. The love of my life has literally been taken out of my life and every day I have to wake up and see that and be reminded that it wasn't even my damn fault and yesterday she delivered a box of my clothes by hand to our door, she stood on our fricking doorstep and gave back all my clothes, she was outside our door, our door, and everywhere I go all anyone can ever talk about is her, and me, and how badly I messed up, even though I didn't do anything, and you're telling me to calm_ down?"

"I don't want to watch this anymore," Percy says, his voice trembling.

Thalia switches it off immediately. "Oh, God, _Percy_."

"I know," he says. "I know."

"What do we do?" Nico asks.

"What are the comments?" Percy says.

Thalia opens up all the replies.

 _um is this real?_

 _holy crap percys not all right at all_

 _am i missing something? why is he saying its not his fault?_

 _has Annabeth seen this_

 _i don't know what I just watched_

 _oh my god percy sounds wrecked_

"They know something's up," Nico says. "They know something's wrong."

"They know I sound like a crazy person," Percy says.

"No," Nico says. " _Look_ at this. They _know_."

"We can't let Dionysus see this," Thalia says. "He'll have our heads before we can say squat."

"This wasn't our fault, though," Nico says.

"It's put a hole in his plan. Sure, he could probably cover it up, saying Percy's been driven wild by heartbreak, whatever, but you've seen those comments. People know something's up. You don't sound like that over a girl you cheated on."

"What do we do?" Nico asks, and suddenly they're both looking at Percy, like he knows.

But he doesn't, and he hasn't for the past six months. The hurting has gotten better, and now whenever he thinks of her, it's just a dull ache. He can laugh now, and mean it, and he can get up and feel like doing six cartwheels with joy, and when he sees how gradually their album is beginning to come together he feels ecstatic, he does, and sometimes there are days where he doesn't even think of Annabeth, but sometimes there are days where he does, and thinks what could have happened. It's a dreadful thing, having a what if. In most relationships, something happens between the two counterparts for them to separate. In this case, it was his psychotic manager. They could have been something. They'd be celebrating their one-year anniversary soon.

He shrugs, slightly hopelessly. "I–I don't know. I really don't know."

Thalia wraps her arm around him as the waves crash down and Nico holds his hands as the rain starts, and somehow, somewhere, in the bleak, he finds a sense of home.

* * *

The video gets almost scarily popular.

Within weeks, it's already up on YouTube, and it has thousands of views. Percy sometimes reads the comments. They're all just as confused as he is. Some of them are mean, and they say things like _that bastard how dare he try and pull the pity card he's the one who cheated_ , and some are more compassionate and also dangerously near the truth, with _guys we know hollywood's super fake we can't ignore the fact that this cheating scandal could have also been faked_. They all get quickly shot down by other commenters, but there are a lot of them, and Percy isn't sure whether he's relieved or terrified every time he comes across a new theory.

Some are stupidly far-fetched. But some are close, too close, and as much as Percy feels his body deflate with relief every time he reads one he also feels an irrational sense of panic, because if Mr D saw them he'd be dead in seconds.

"Hey," Thalia says, coming into the room. "You all right?"

Percy jerks his head up distractedly. "Hm?" he says. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

Thalia peers over his shoulder. "You're still watching that video?"

"Some of the comments are close," he admits. "Too close. I'm scared that– that..."

"Yeah," Thalia says. "I know." She ruffles his hair. "Don't dwell on that for too long, there's nothing we can do. I'm off so I can't babysit."

"Where are you going?"

"Me and Jason are meeting up," she says.

Percy looks up. "Jason?"

"No Piper," Thalia says.

"Oh."

"I'm gonna try talk to him," she says. "He's refusing to listen to anything I can say about it, though. He won't take sides, because it's me or his girlfriend, and he can't pick between us. But I'm going to try. He probably won't even let me talk, something about how he doesn't want to be 'jaded', or whatever the hell that means, but I will, I promise."

Percy smiles wryly. "You don't have to do that."

"I know," she says. "It's what makes me so great." She affectionately flicks the side of his head. "Clean the kitchen."

"Yes, mom."

She rolls her eyes and struts out into the hallway. Right before she leaves, she yells, "NICO, I'M GOING OUT!"

"COOL, DON'T CARE!"

The door slams.

Percy looks back at his computer, at the paused screen. Then he opens up a Word document and pulls his guitar into his lap.

If anything can come from this, he can write a good angsty song.

He spends the rest of the night writing. He switches his phone off somewhere around eight pm and spends the whole evening on the sofa, his old acoustic on his lap, playing around with chord progressions and fingerpicking. He records a few voice memos on his laptop, different tunes of the same lyric, ends up layering them together, hates it, scraps it, and rewrites it once, twice, three times, and starts again. He taps out a beat on the side of his guitar that he doesn't hate and records that, too, and then tries to find a good melody that will work. He writes an A-minor chord in and then changes it to a B, and then back to an A-minor, and then back to a B, and then scraps it altogether and changes it to an F.

Nico finds him at some point around eleven pm.

"Hey," he says. "You've been working for hours, don't you want to stop?"

"I'm on a roll," Percy says. "It's all good."

"Whatever you say. Fancy some toast? I saw a jar of Nutella in the back of the cupboard that Thalia thought she could hide from us."

"Sure."

Thalia comes in maybe an hour later, her cheeks flushed from the cold. She sits next to Percy on her phone for a couple of hours, before even she retires off to bed, but Percy stays awake, still working on this damn song. It's hard and it's tiring and he's already torn several cuticles and entirely ripped off a hangnail, but finally, when six am rolls around, he's got a song.

He thinks for a while, and then titles it What If.

* * *

"Oh, look, the news is on," Nico says casually the next day.

Percy flicks his eyes to the television briefly – it's a bored-looking telecaster in a red dress talking about something he really couldn't care less about. "Cool."

"Turn it up," Thalia urges.

"Turn it _off_ ," he mumbles. "Since when have you ever liked the news, anyway?"

"Since always," Thalia says. "I'm quite insulted you've never noticed."

"Trust me, if you started watching the news I would have noticed."

"Shh!" Nico hisses. "They're doing the Hot Gossip part."

Percy rolls his eyes but listens anyway. He can't move even if he tried – Nico is stretched over him like an oversized cat, effectively pinning him down – so he supposes it's the least he can do.

And hey. Sometimes the news can be interesting.

But his interest ends the second he and Annabeth comes on screen.

"Right, bye," he says.

"No, Percy!" Nico yelps, panicked. "You have to watch!"

"What's there to watch? People talking about me and Annabeth like they know anything?"

"You'll want to watch it, I swear."

"Nico–"

"Just your damn mouth, Jackson," Thalia says sharply, "and watch the screen."

Huffing, Percy slumps down. He really doesn't want to see this.

"We all know the story," the woman on the TV is saying. She looks slightly more alive, like Percy's turbulent love story is her fuel. Percy knows it's not her fault – trust me, he's all over every Taylor Swift tabloid he can get – but he still feels a twinge because the only people who are meant to be living off their relationship are him and Annabeth and even then it's still dead. "The Demigods guitarist Percy Jackson and his YouTuber girlfriend Annabeth Chase had the perfect relationship – or so it seemed, when pictures were released of him supposedly kissing another girl."

"I don't want to watch this," Percy says tightly.

"I know," Thalia says. "But just a few more seconds."

"But as of late it appears we have reason to think twice about that picture," the lady says, and suddenly Percy sits up. "Early this morning security camera footage was anonymously leaked of Jackson and a man fans have recognised to be Olympus Records producer Dionysus Whyne, and, well. Take a look for yourself."

Percy feels paralysed. What is going on?

The TV cuts to a black and white overhead shot of the studio. To his shock, Percy sees himself standing in the middle of the room, pacing anxiously. Nearby is Thalia and Nico and across them is Mr D.

"Do you now understand," on-screen Mr D says, "that this is not something you'll ever be able to get out of? I thought this all through. The second I saw that picture on your phone, Thalia, I knew exactly what I had to do. It's not hard, honestly. You made my job very easy."

Percy feels his chest constrict. This is like the elevator video all over again, except bigger and better, because this is _valid proof_ , and suddenly he doesn't think he can breathe.

"But," Mr D continues, "on the bright side, think of the sales! Your album is guaranteed to do brilliantly. You'll sell thousands of copies." He smiles at them. "Now, I suppose you're here, you'd be best heading to the studio and starting on those break-up songs, huh, Percy?"

Percy doesn't respond.

Mr D's head tilts. "Percy?"

"You're sick," on-screen Percy spits. Real life Percy feels his heartbeat in his ears.

"Percy–" he tries.

"No!" Percy shouts, suddenly explosive. "No! Don't _Percy_ me! You ruined it! You ruined things with Annabeth for and I hate you! You knew damn well it was Nico in those pictures and yet you were so afraid of album sales that you sabotaged one of the best things that's ever happened to me, all for what? To keep those millions in your bank account?"

"I did what I have to," Dionysus says.

"Bullcrap," Percy snaps tightly. "You– oh my God, I can't, this is so stupid, oh my _God_."

"She wasn't good for you, Percy. You knew why I had to do this. It's all about–"

"What, Dionysus? Money? Fame? If you wanted that then write and record your own albums instead of leeching off us and ruining everything in our way so it ends up that way."

"Percy–"

"I can't do this." On-screen Percy scrubs a hand across his face. Every movement is jerky, like his muscles are made of rubber bands. Percy watches himself in shock. It's one thing to feel the war but to see it from the outside is jarring. "I can't do this."

"Go," Thalia says. "Nico, go with him."

"I don't need you babying me!"

Real-life Percy flinches.

On-screen Nico is undeterred. "Tough luck, bud. Come on, let's get burritos."

That's where the footage cuts off. Percy is stunned, lost in his own head. He doesn't even hear the television lady end her monologue, instead choosing to stare down at Nico's butt in shock. He's not sure what he's feeling. That was a side of him he really wasn't a fan of being shared to the world like that but also– oh God _Annabeth_.

He turns to look at Thalia and Nico. They're both sheepishly smiling.

He knew it.

"You did that?" he asks, touched.

Nico shrugs modestly. "Maybe," he says.

"H–how?"

"Quite simply." Thalia adjusts herself on the bed, crossing her legs. "It started when I took that picture of Nico recording naked, right? I did it because it was hilarious, but I also panicked because some of our fans are– well, enthusiastic, and I was not going to put hacking our security cameras to get, like, _everything_ , you know, behind them, so I was like, right, I need to beat them to the chase and delete the footage before Nico's actual real nudes start circling the internet. And I got up there and did it, but then that got me thinking – there was a lot of crap on this security footage. And after the whole Annabeth fiasco, I knew that there would literally be nothing we could do to get the world to believe you, because all the evidence was against you. So from there it was quite simple. I remembered you had blown up at Dionysus in the studio, so Nico and I snuck up there and, well. Anonymously submitted it in."

Percy stares at her, at both of them. He's so overwhelmed he doesn't know what to say, or even what to think.

"Thank you," he chokes out.

"Aw, are you getting emotional?" Nico teases.

"Push off, Nico," Thalia says. She leans forwards and wraps Percy in a big hug. "It's no problem, brother. All in a day's work."

"I love you guys."

"I love us too," Nico says. "Can you buy us coffee for the next week to compensate?"

"Nico!"

Percy lets out a laugh. "It's okay," he says, knuckling at his eyes. He's not crying, he's not, he's just so thankful and relieved he feels his eyes fill with tears, because for the first time it feels like he can breathe. And then suddenly it occurs to him. "Hey, when did you send this in?"

"Yesterday," Thalia says. "We asked them to broadcast any news stories they would have about it on this channel at this time so we could all watch it and pretend to be surprised. But they did post about it. It's why I didn't let you go on any social media, because I didn't want to ruin the surprise."

"Annabeth's probably seen it," Percy says. "Oh my God, Annabeth's probably _seen_ it!"

"Check your phone!" Nico urges.

Percy scrambles for it on the nightstand, and then switches it on. He's kept it off since last night, so he's flooded with a flurry of texts and notifications. Many are just a series of reaction memes, because, quite like himself, no one really knows how to respond, but they all seem positive, so he reckons it a mission success.

But what makes his heart stop is a missed call from Annabeth.

"Oh my God," he says.

"Call her, you muppet!" Thalia says.

Percy's hands are shaking so much he can't even get his password right. After three failed attempts, he finally gets into his phone, and then he tries calling her.

She doesn't pick up. But it rings all the way.

"She hasn't blocked me anymore," he says.

"Well, obviously," Nico says. "We got that the minute we saw that she called you."

"Shut up, Nico," Percy says.

"Text her," Thalia says. "Obviously she's not near her phone right now."

"But what if she is?" Percy suddenly feels a swell of anxiety. "What if she called me and then realized what a giant mistake she had made is now ignoring me?"

"Then she would have blocked you again," Nico says simply. "Now, text her like an adult, and calm down."

Percy looks down at his phone. "What do I say?"

"Well, you have a lot," Thalia says. "And you can't do it over text. Offer to meet someplace. Out in the open. You can get everything off your chest and start afresh."

"Good idea," Nico says.

Percy stares down at his phone. "Okay."

 **Percy** : hey

 **Percy** : can we meet up?

It's the first time they've spoken in months. Six months, eighteen days, to be precise. Percy's kept count. He's tried, but it's like calling into a void, because when someone's blocked you there's only so many times you can call before the dreading realization that they'll never see any of them falls on you and you stop.

But, exactly sixteen minutes later, the void answers back.

 **Annabeth** : my place, 4pm tomorrow

 **Annabeth** : we need to talk.

* * *

 **A/N well hello everyone how are we all?**

 **i myself am quite splendid which is lovely because a) i'm on half term so i've got next week off school holla and b) hey guESS WHAT WE GOT 500 WOOOOO**

 **five hundred! what a milestone! i'm so so so happy and it's really all down to you so thank you so so much what an honour! also! we've officially taken over ispy! how amazing! this is really all thanks to you my wonderful lovely angels so thank you to eVerYONE**

 **(also to everyone who asked yes my knees are wonderful at the moment they should be fully healed but im stupid and slid about on the floor for like an hour yesterday so they're not exactly but whatever)**

 **SOME THANK YOUS!**

 **DiSolace** – ahh thank you so much! and haha yes i've been told that a few times by now – piper's another youtuber, by the way. thank you for your lovely review!

 **Cassy daughter of the Moon** – ahaha thank you!

 **burnt up feeling** – baBE (and i don't blame you at all octavian's icky)

 **KittyCat809** – ah thank you so much! and haha i wasn't sure what other pjo scumbags i could interwine that weren't luke and octavian was my only option Xd

 **golden . lanterns** – your review was so LOVELY and also very eye-opening thus the chapter so thank you for being sensible and observational and also thank you! xx

 **LiveLoveLaughFandoms** – ahhhh thank you so much!

 **RosettaQueen20** – eeep sorry ahaha. thank you for reviewing! x

 **my-last-username-was-immature** – oh my gosh YOU your review was so wonderful to read! this one and also the one on the one-shot and i'm so very sorry for causing you so much pain haha. thank you so so much! (also the show was Guys & Dolls it was quite lit and went very well!)

 **allineedisabook [guest]** – well you alreADy know how much i love you my lovely because your reviews are always the sweetest and most wonderful and also you're just so thoughtful because you keep checking up and just thank you so much for spending so much time writing out reviews and being wonderful you're honestly the loveliest (and even though you mentioned it ago i think i just forgot to mention it i'm very glad you got snow at a point!)

 **Brunette J** – here you are pal! x

 **Cheera12** – why thank you haha

 **Panda1912** – eep thank you my friend! and i mean look at this chapter

 **Krystaltheelemental** – i hope this chapter satisfies you!

 **StellaHunterOfArtemis** – please don't lose your mind have this bonding chapter

 **ViktorSweden00** – wow thank you so much!

 **Koda0809** – here you are!

 **Wisdomsqueen** – i can guarantee you it's all smooth-sailing from here xx

 **I am a Hippocrite** – ah thank you! i'm glad i made you laugh xx

 **AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter** – eeee thank you so much! here's a (hopefully) nicer chapter x

 **Ruby Slippers** – ah thanks pal!

 **Hagbre5498 [guest]** – that's totally reasonable honestly, even though she's generally one of my favourite characters to write haha x and thank you so much!

 **JustARandomFandomer** – HERES PERCABETH PLS DON'T LEAVE

 **09KoolKid101** – here's your percabeth! and thank you!

 **Penguin1127** – ahhhH okay listen pal your reviews are just so nice and lovely to read and you're amazing i love you so much, and thank you so much for enjoying this story so much! means a lot to me xxx

 **Qwertywerido** – hope this makes up for it x

 **FreelanceWriter365** – ahaha thank you octavian was very fun to write x

 **Penny [guest]** – ah thanks pal!

 **weatetheoriginal** – :D

 **TheYoLOMan** – wow thanks haha x

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 **history1313** – here you are x

 **JustAnny** – ah thank you! hope this chapter makes up for it haha

 **WiseGirl1609** – here you are! xxx

 **boomnitro** – thanks!

 **JustARandomNerd** – wow thanks pal!

 **UnSweetened** **Tea** – have a nice happy chapter for a change hehe x

 **im quite sorry about how long im dragging this on but i PINKIE PROMISE you next week is the great Reunion we've all been waiting for so thanks for all holding on so long! i love you all (THANKS FOR 500 AHH) and i shall see you next Saturday!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

* * *

"Had another talk about where it's going wrong  
But we're still young  
We don't know where we're going"

– Sweet Creature, Harry Styles

* * *

Percy entertains himself with going through the latest headlines.

He's had a funny relationship with reading news stories about himself, he muses, as he flicks through yet another. He used to love doing it. Most of the stories the media spin are fabricated, and also horrendously outrageous, and Percy loves it. Of _course_ he wants to know about the pet ostrich he illegally smuggled into the US. He wants to know about all the babies he's apparently had, and how he's secretly dating Jennifer Lopez, and how his black hair isn't his real hair and he's actually a ginger.

They're hysterical. Really.

But, for quite obvious reasons, he's not been a giant fan of the most recent one. Because for six months, he was the villain of the press. Everyone hated him. He couldn't even go outside, because if he smiling then he was enjoying Annabeth's pain, and if he was sad then he was trying to get pity, and if he was neutral then he was an emotionless psychopath who liked emotionally hurting innocent young girls. It was all every headline could talk about. Oh, look. Here comes big bad Jackson. He'll never recover from this. How could he. He's so evil.

Now, he's almost back to enjoying them. It's funny to watch the same magazines who had previously called him the bane of the music industry now bowing at his feet. He's called the Misunderstood Miscreant now. The Manipulated. The Scandal To End All Scandals, or whatever the hell they come up with.

To be honest, the only person whose opinion he really cares about is Annabeth's. And he's going to find out in approximately an hour and twenty minutes.

"It's awfully exciting, isn't it?" Nico says. "I can hardly wait myself."

"You're not even coming with me," Percy says.

"I know, it's just – you've been so terribly mopey ever since you and Annabeth broke up, and so have I because Annabeth wouldn't talk to me and I need someone to rant to, because they just released the newest version of Mythomagic and in it completely butchered the digital art and backstory of one of my favourite characters and I need to scream about it to someone who isn't one of you two."

"What's wrong with us?"

"You're useless. Thalia just tells me to get over it. You won't do anything much better."

"That's probably true."

"So," Nico says. "I do hope that you and Annabeth manage to make it up today. Obviously, like, follow your heart, and if you feel like you and Annabeth shouldn't be together anymore then don't let me influence you and stuff, but, like. Please actually make up and get married so I can talk to her about this."

Percy snorts. The idea that he wouldn't want Annabeth back is almost preposterous.

"I'm serious," Nico insists, taking it the wrong way. "You both have the conversational skills of deaf squirrels."

"I can't believe the sole reason you want me to get Annabeth back is so you can nerd out with her about the design of a character from your stupid game."

"As well as your utmost happiness and wellbeing, of course," Nico corrects. "But mainly, yes."

They both look up when they see Thalia walk into the living room, fully dressed. She's wearing what Percy affectionately calls the Kickass Outfit (a leather jacket and her combat boots). She's holding her keys and is talking on the phone. "Yeah, I'll be there soon," she says. "Okay. Okay. See you."

"Who was that?" Nico asks.

Thalia ends the call and shoves her phone into her pocket. "Apollo. He wants me in the studio for today. He came up with this new bass riff that he thinks would sound really cool on All I Have, so I'm going in so we can have a play around. Apparently it came to him in a dream, or something."

Nico blinks. "A dream."

"Sounds promising," Percy says.

"It will be," Thalia says. "What about you, kiddo? You feeling excited for Annabeth?"

"You sound like my mom on my first day of school."

"I feel that way. I mean. This is it, right? Make it or break it."

"You'll make it," Nico says hurriedly, as Percy frowns. "Not break it."

"No, you've already done that," Thalia says.

Percy shrugs. "I don't know. I'm just reading articles to make myself better."

"That– doesn't sound like a very good plan."

"No, it is," Percy says. "Did you know Hartford Magazine says I've got cancer?"

"I did not," says Nico.

Thalia collapses on the couch next to him. "Perce, are you all right?"

He sighs. "Yeah, I'm– I'm fine. I just don't know what to say. Or do, I mean– what exactly do I _have_? I doubt many people have had to go through something like this."

"Just be honest," Thalia says, brushing hair off Percy's forehead. "You've both been through some crap. There's a lot to say, but you'll say it all. Tell your side. You both haven't spoken for months. This relationship isn't going to mend easy, but I it _is_ going to mend."

Nico nods.

"What you two have is special," Thalia says softly. "Was, in any case. Something tells me you're going to be just fine."

Percy smiles tiredly. "Thanks, Thalia."

"It's okay." She smiles at him, one last time, and then stands up, brushing down her jeans. "Well, that's enough niceness for one day."

"She's receding back into her true form," Nico stage-whispers.

"Oh, shut up."

" _Aaaaand_ she's back."

"I will cut you."

"There are breadsticks in the kitchen, if you feel like breaking anything with your great and terrible wrath."

" _Goodbye_ , Nico," Thalia says, shouldering her bag. "Bye, Perce. I'll see you goons later, okay?"

"Bye," Percy says.

* * *

It feels weird, almost, walking into their apartment block.

He's passed it so many times, waited outside it for so long, that it feels almost odd to go inside, like he hasn't gone inside a thousand times before. He sees the doorman's eyes narrow slightly in recognition, not from the tabloids, but from having visited so many times. Percy can almost see the wheels in his head turning.

 _Why has he come back?_

 _Why so long?_

 _Why did he stop?_

Percy wants to laugh. Oh, if only he knew. A single Google search would bring up everything.

He steps into the elevator, and presses the button for floor six. He's alone, thank goodness, so he can just stand and brood in his own thoughts for the minute or so he has until he's faced with one of the simultaneously most terrifying and exhilarating meetings he's probably ever had to go into. And that's saying a lot, considering the number of meetings he attended in order to get signed.

He wonders what Annabeth's thinking right now. Is she regretting inviting him over? Is she anticipating it like he is? Does it fill her with dread, or fear?

Does she still hate him?

He closes his eyes before he lets all the thoughts swallow him whole. No. She invited him here for a reason. They're getting everything out into the open, so they can stare at them and wonder if it's worth starting this relationship over again.

Percy already knows all of it. He just hopes Annabeth has enough trust in him to give it another go.

The doors slide open.

Every step it takes to get to the door feels like a traipse up a live volcano. He knows he's being dramatic (although he feels like he has a right to be dramatic, considering, you know, he waited out six long months of loneliness and solitude _through no fault of his own,_ may he add, for this moment and now it's finally here and if his heart is being a bit funny that's no one's business except his own, okay) but it's hard, being so close to something that could shape his future.

Annabeth could hate him, and he'll walk away even more heartbroken before. Or she'll dive into his arms and they'll live happily ever after.

Or they'll talk it out like adults and wait a bit and then slowly ease back into a relationship. That's probably the more realistic option. But he can dream the second comes true. Annabeth might do something like that.

He stands in front of their door. His future lies on the other side, and everything he didn't he get to say is with him in his hand, ready to hand over.

Is he ready? Not at all.

With a deep breath, he knocks on the door.

Piper is the one who opens it. She's wearing a purple tank top and a pair of faded track pants, and her hair is tied in a messy ponytail on top of her head. When she sees it's Percy, she smiles softly, her eyes warm and tired. "Hey," she says.

"Hey," he says.

They both know why he's here.

"She's in the living room," Piper says. "Probably still in shock. She hasn't moved in an alarming amount of time."

Percy cracks a smile at that. "She's always been dramatic."

"Yeah," Piper says. "Well, come in."

He steps inside, and toes off his Converse. It's changed, a little. The walls are now painted a nice sunny yellow and there are framed photos of Piper and Annabeth and all their friends lining the hallway, and Percy thinks they may have changed the rug in front of the drawers, but otherwise everything else is the same.

It feels like a lifetime since he's been here. It may as well have been.

Just as he's about to go into the living room, Piper calls, "Percy?"

Percy turns.

She leans against the wall, with a wry smile on her face. "I – I'm sorry," she says finally.

"For what?"

She fondly rolls her eyes. "She– she didn't hear you out," she says. "And that was partially my fault. I told her not to."

Percy raises one shoulder. "You couldn't have known."

"There's more than one side to every story."

"Yeah."

Piper smiles at him. "Go get her."

Percy smiles back at her. They've always gotten along, the two of them. In the split, he didn't just lose his girlfriend, he also lost a friend. He'll make sure to properly hang out with Piper later. For now, he just needs to get back Annabeth.

Speaking of.

Taking a deep breath, he walks into the living room.

Annabeth is sitting on the sofa, on her laptop. She looks up when he comes in and for the first time in six months they make eye contact and Percy feels his whole life grind to a halt in front of him.

"Percy," she says.

"Hey."

She's changed, a bit. Her hair is shorter – she must have gotten it cut. It now hangs just a little over her shoulders. The summer has brought out her freckles, too, and she's wearing eyeliner, which make her grey eyes stand out even more than they normally do. She's wearing a sweater Percy has never seen before, and when she comes to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear she's wearing a lot of bracelets.

She used to hate bracelets. Percy has missed so much.

She smiles at him, a bit awkwardly, and he smiles back, because what else is there to do? For a few moments, they just stay there, looking at each other, before Annabeth comes out of whatever reverie she was in and shuffles up. "Come, sit down," she says. "Sorry, I'm a bit– everywhere. Just."

"Yeah," Percy says. "I know."

Annabeth's mouth twitches. "Come on."

Percy obliges. He heads over and sits down. They're both so, so stiff, and dancing around the elephant in the room like it's the plague. He sits right at the end. She's at the other end. There can't be any more than half a metre between them, but he feels like the space just yawns wide and stretches onwards.

Annabeth ducks her head a little. For the first time, Percy notices the mug of tea cradled in her lap. "Uh," she says. "You look– well?"

"Thanks," he says. "You, uh. You too."

She smiles, a bit uncomfortably. "Yeah. Haven't really felt it, much."

He laughs. "With you on that one."

She laughs alongside him, but their laughter quickly fades out, because it's not really something to be laughing about, and they're just laughing to clear the air. It doesn't really work. They're back to silence, Annabeth staring down at her tea and Percy at his fingers. He pulls at some of the rubber bracelets he's got lining his own arms.

"How are you?" Annabeth asks.

"I'm good."

She watches him carefully. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"How– how _were_ you, then."

Percy looks up at her. She's gripping her mug tight, but she's looking at him straight in the eyes. "You want the truth?"

"We can't do this if I don't."

He nods. "I was miserable."

She flinches. She already knew this. Guessed, maybe. She only would have known recently.

"Yeah?" she says.

"I was– God, Annabeth. I was a wreck."

She nods, almost unnoticeably. "Me, too."

Percy waits.

"I thought you'd cheated, you know," Annabeth says. She laughs, wetly. "God, you probably already knew that."

"Yeah. Just a guess, though."

She lets out a kind of choked laugh. Percy thinks she might start crying. "I– I was so angry, Percy," she says. "I was _so_ angry."

Percy waits.

"You'd promised me you wouldn't be like Luke. You'd _sworn_ to me. And– and then that picture got released, and I was– I was so _hurt_. Because it looked like you, and all the evidence was pointing towards it being you, and you had– you had promised. And then the picture, and the date stamp showed months before it was released, and– and all I could think of was Luke, and how _stupid_ I was that I didn't realise he'd been cheating on me for almost half our relationship. I–I didn't want to be a fool again, Percy. Because I'd caught him, you know. Not directly, but in– situations, that I should have read further into. He talked me out of them. I was afraid if I let you even try and reason with me you might try and manipulate me into thinking it wasn't you, and–" She has to stop.

She takes a halting, stilted breath. "I would have taken you back, you know? If I had let you talk to me. I thought that photo was real. I knew that photo was real. But I didn't talk to you, and I told myself it was because you might do what Luke did, and convince me that it wasn't real. But it was actually because if I saw you I'd take you back.

"I actually took the damned picture to a Photoshop expert. I wanted an out. There were like– two Annabeths. One of them was reasonable. She was like– like, Annabeth, the boy cheated on you, just leave him. Just– just forget him, you know. And then there was the other one, who wanted just one reason for me to be able to get back together with you. So I checked. I sent it to an expert. He told me it wasn't. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. It just– I was heartbroken.

"All the evidence pointed to you. I tried to find holes, Percy. I–I searched, so hard. I looked up the time date, tried to see what you were wearing. I found the shirt, the one you were wearing, and I looked at it from– every angle, with every different type of light, just to see if it had been faked, if someone else made, like, a makeshift shirt, just to trick me. But it was– it was the shirt. It had all the right holes. And obviously your name. I just–" She sighs, and a few tears slip out of her eyes. "I was just– shattered. I thought you'd be different, you know?

"And then that video, my God." Annabeth lets out a watery laugh. "I wasn't– I wasn't sure what to think. It had been six months. I was over you. I thought so, anyway. And then suddenly my Twitter notifications blew up, and I was like, what's going on, and all these people, hundreds of people, were tagging me in this video, and– and I watched it. And I–I didn't know what to do.

"The elevator video was the first stretch. That one just made me angry, I think. Because when Luke called me and asked me to pay his bail, he'd also played the victim, and then, here you are, complaining about– about how our relationship failed, when you'd been the one to end it. And then the studio one came out."

She falls silent. Percy takes her up.

"Nico and Thalia sent that one in," he says.

She huffs out a weak laugh. "That doesn't surprise me."

She stares down at her tea again. Percy takes the opportunity to say something he's been waiting for a long time to.

"Annabeth, I'm so sorry," he says.

She looks up. "Why are you sorry? God, Percy, I was– I was _awful_."

"You were hurting."

"So were you. And– God, I had almost the entire _world_ on my side. Everyone hated you, and you couldn't do anything."

"Yeah," Percy says. "That bit kind of sucked."

Annabeth smiles, a little wryly, and then she sobers up and stares down at her tea again. "W–what happened? Why did Dionysus do that to you?"

Percy huffs and leans back. "'Cause he's a coward. He– he checked the statistics. And you know how that man is with statistics. He's insane. We weren't doing so well. Which I don't care about, because the only thing I cared about was you. People were becoming less interested in us. And he couldn't have that, oh no. So he was like, what can do I do to boost the profile of this band. And he was like, whoa, I can make them break up. And– it's worked, I guess, because now everyone is clamoring for the album, because they think it's gonna be full of break-up songs about you. So he found the picture on Thalia's phone. It was Nico, and an overexcited fan. Then he sent it to the magazine. And then the rest kind of just– happened."

Annabeth watches him. "I'm – I'm so sorry, Percy."

"You couldn't have known."

"You called me. About eight times. I didn't pick up. I could've. This never would've happened if I'd picked up."

"It would have seemed like a cop-out." He lets out a mirthless laugh. "God, it's the only reason I stopped calling. Because I was like, there's gonna be a point where she's gonna have seen the articles, and she's gonna have seen my calls, and whether I call one more time or eight hundred more times she's just gonna keep ignoring me."

Annabeth smiles, wryly. "I'm still sorry."

"It's all okay, now. Everyone's apologized for putting me through a year of hell."

"Even the magazines?"

"Especially the magazines. Girl's Choice US actually DMed me apologizing for calling me the worst supervillain Hollywood has ever seen." He pauses. "I've never even been to Hollywood."

Annabeth snorts, despite herself. Percy grins.

"So," she says. "Where– where does this leave us?"

Percy sighs. This part is the hard part. "I don't know."

"Do–" Annabeth takes a sharp intake of breath. "Do you still want to get back together?"

"Do you?"

There's a pause. And then Annabeth gives a tiny nod.

"We can't dive into this straight away," he says.

"I know," she says.

"Six months is a long, long time. And we've both been hurt. Badly."

"I know."

"We – let's give it a few weeks, all right?"

Annabeth looks up sharply. "A few weeks?"

Percy somehow feels very calm. This is it, the moment he's been waiting for, for six months, Annabeth, in front of him, wanting to get back together – but he knows if they dive in headfirst there's only going to be more pain. He needs to be sensible, for once.

It's hard choosing head over heart when for years it's been heart over head, but he knows that this time it's right.

"Yeah," he says. "A few weeks. We can be friends. I still want to see you, like. Every day, if you'll let me. We'll go for breakfast, we'll go for lunch, we can – do dinner, too, if you want, and you can come over and I'll bake for you, and then I'll come over and we'll cook together, like last time, and I'll still send you gross pictures of Nico and you can still send me pictures of Socks." He pauses. "We can almost – do it over."

Annabeth smiles weakly. "Fall in love again."

"Lots of things have changed. If we start this again now, we'll be miles ahead of ourselves. We need time to catch up, and adjust."

"We're still the same."

"You're wearing bracelets, Annabeth."

"So?"

"You hate bracelets."

"Oh."

"And– your walls are yellow, and you changed the rug, and you've got pictures up now. And we've got almost a full album, and I've cut my hair and so have you, and I also sponsored a panda in Africa, and I kind of hate chocolate orange now."

"You loved chocolate orange, though."

"When the news broke I ate too much of it and grew sick of it."

She rolls her eyes. "Only you."

"We need time to get to know each other again. And – and if we are meant to be together, we'll find ourselves falling in love again. And we can start this relationship good and new, and everything will be perfect."

For a moment, Annabeth hesitates. Then finally, she nods.

"Okay."

"Okay." Percy dares to reach over and take her hand. She accepts it, and squeezes it. "We can do this, Beth. I promise you."

She looks at him straight in the eyes. "I trust you, and I know we can."

* * *

 **A/N** **hello! sorry this is a bit short (family are rushing me, we're doing family board game night hah) but hey we got the grand percabeth reunion!**

 **sorry it wasn't full of kissing and stuff, but ya know, have to be realistic and whatnot haha**

 **also cool news!**

 **i have a new story out! it's called** in a storm in my best dress (fearless) **(because im a pretentious buttface who uses taylor swift lyrics and BRACKETS for titles oh yeah) and it's probably the biggest thing i've ever written in one go. please do go have a peep (it is very long though i'll give you that haha) because i worked extremely hard on it and i'm exceptionally proud of it and the way it turned out.**

 **anyway that's all i had to say im just very pleased with how it ended up and i wanted to self-promote as much as possible because whY NOT**

 **that's all i really have for today folks! i hope you enjoyed that. please tell me what you thought and i'll see you next week!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

* * *

"I remember the freckles on your back  
And the way that I used to make you laugh"

– Want You Back, 5 Seconds Of Summer

* * *

In hindsight, the whole 're-falling-in-love with Annabeth' shebang sounded like a good idea.

It was smart, and it was sensible, and his mom would be proud of him for it, and obviously in the long run it would be the best thing for them, because it would be like crashing down to Earth after being in space for months and then immediately trying to do a marathon. It just wouldn't work. They needed time and space for each other to slowly meld themselves into each other's lives again, to work out all the kinks and changes, and see still if they fit.

It's just – sometimes it's so hard.

They both slip up, all the time. Only the other day Annabeth and Piper had come around to their house and it was late, maybe like eleven pm. They'd all had a couple sips of wine, not enough to get them properly hammered (Percy's twenty-first may be in a couple months but he still regards the law, okay) (which he's aware he broke the second he sipped the wine in the first way but whatever, if he's not drunk then technically there's no proof), but there's a pleasant buzz, and Thalia is only slightly tipsy. They had played strip poker for a couple of hours because they're mature adults, and then, once all of them were down to their underwear and sober enough to realise any more rounds would result in complete nudity but drunk enough to not be bothered to get dressed again, they had all sloppily migrated to the sofa and started to watch whatever dumb black and white telenovela was on that night.

And then Annabeth was right next to him, in just her underwear, and Percy was only in boxers, and he subconsciously put his arm around her and then she leaned against him and laced her fingers with her so their intertwined hands lay on her thigh and at frst it was almost like old times until Piper had hiccupped and giggled something about how the sexual tension was through the roof and honestly to the hell with whatever abstinence bullcrap they were pretending to play and they had both sprung away like they had been electrocuted.

(So maybe they were all a little more then mildly buzzed. _Whatever_ , okay, his birthday's in two months, technically no laws have been broken.)

It's not the only time. Sometimes Percy will absently reach for Annabeth's hand, or she'll cuddle up close to him, and one time she stayed the night and she was sitting on the counter the next morning as he made breakfast and then the doorbell had rung so he had pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth before he went to answer it, only to realise halfway out the kitchen that _crap_ he couldn't do that anymore.

"Uh," he said.

"It's cool," Annabeth said, slightly dazed.

"I– didn't mean to."

"It's okay."

The doorbell rang again and Percy legged it out of there as fast as he can.

All of it is just highly inconvenient. Especially because Percy had realised that even after six months Annabeth was still the same nerd as always and whenever she'd make a stupid joke that only she'd find funny and laugh at it because no one else would he kind of wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let her go ever again because she was just too cute.

They're in such close proximity it sometimes almost pains Percy to, like, not reach out and snuggle her.

"You're being dramatic," Thalia says when Percy laments to her about it one day. "And, may I say, _you_ were the genius who decided this in the first place, so I have no sympathy."

"I had to!" Percy wails. "It's the sensible thing to do!"

"You know what was also the sensible thing to do?" Will asks. "Not rail my client. And what happened? I railed my client."

Nico beams at him.

"You two don't get to talk," Percy grouches. "You get to love each other and be all cute. The love of my life literally, like. Touches me every single day. Do you know how hard it is to suppress the urge to even hug her?"

"You can still hug her, crikey, Percy," Thalia says. "You're moving slowly, not a taking chastity vow."

"I know." Percy stares unhappily at the ceiling. "Someone, come pat me, I'm upset."

Will, like the good, noble man he is, obediently comes over to the sofa and takes Percy's head in his lap. He starts running his fingers through Percy's hair. "There, there."

Across the room, Nico snickers. If Percy wasn't so insistent on dramatically displaying his woe he might have glared at him.

To be honest, though, not everything is as tragic as Percy is making it out to be. He's the happiest he's been in months. Annabeth is back, and so is Piper, and now he has someone to text cute (PLATONIC) things to and another person to screenshot said cute (PLATONIC) texts to and gloat over how they like him better.

( **Piper** : Annabeth does not like you better i refuse to accept that

 **Percy** : oh im sorry has Annabeth ever called you the love of her life

 **Percy** : i think not

 **Piper** : THAT WAS FROM WHEN YOU WERE DATING

 **Piper** : YOURE NOT EVEN DATING ANYMORE

 **Percy** : i'd beg to differ actually

 **Percy** : we will always be married whether or not we're dating

 **Percy** : deep down

 **Piper** : youre so gross

 **Piper** : no wonder Annabeth hates you)

And? Mr D is gone.

It was a long messy legal battle, but they eventually won, as they do with most things in life ("that is– not true" "shut up Nico"). Mr D had been furious, to put it simply, when he had caught wind of the rumours, and seen the leaked video footage. He isn't a stupid man, and had pretty quickly caught onto the fact that it was Thalia and Nico who had done it, seeing as no one except the four of them had known of entire ordeal, and obviously he wouldn't willingly sabotage his entire career.

"You rascals," he snarls. "You're _fired_."

"Actually, _you're_ fired," Nico says.

Mr D pauses. "What?"

"A terrible shame," Thalia says insincerely. "Honestly, we're truly sorry to see you go. It'll cause us much pain to see the last of you. Having said that, here are your court dates." She hands over a piece of paper. "You need to be there so you can plead guilty."

Mr D actually has the nerve to laugh. "To what? I haven't broken the law."

"Quite the opposite," she says. "American citizens have a right to privacy, which you invaded when you saw me type in my phone password and used it to go through my phone and send yourself the picture, and also did you know that deception counts as a criminal offence? Wild, right?"

"You can't prove anything."

"On the contrary, my good sir," she says. "In section 16 of the Theft Act, established in 1968, it says that obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception is actually a crime. We're all quite stupid so we had to look up what that meant, but long story short it means if you deceive someone – or, in this case, millions upon millions of _someones_ – in order to make financial profit then you have broken the law. Which you did. Because you convinced the entire world that Percy cheated on Annabeth so album sales could go up and you could make money, and if you deny that it can be a) held against you in court and also b) quite easily disputed, since, of course, we have security camera footage of you telling Percy exactly that." She smiles at him pleasantly. "We've sued you roughly half a million dollars, seeing that's what you've made off us, give or take maybe a few hundred thousand. Have fun in bankruptcy with no employers willing to hire you!"

The look on his face is _priceless_. Percy almost wishes he has a camera.

They go to court later that month. It's a highly publicised ordeal, which Percy isn't sure he really likes, until they win and Mr D's mortified face on live TV for everyone to see is suddenly breaking news, and then he realises he does actually quite like it.

It's almost jarring, for Percy to be the Supervillian of Los Angeles one week and then for it to be Mr D the next. Percy reads some articles about him, and at first he almost thinks about feeling sympathetic, because he knows it is to be on the receiving end of it, until he remembers he almost sabotaged one of the best things that's ever happened to him, and then he feels cordial.

"You know," Thalia says one day. "Call me crazy, but I almost feel bad for the old geezer."

Nico looks up. "You mean Mr D?"

"I will definitely call you crazy if you mean Mr D," Percy says.

Thalia shrugs. "Dunno. It's just– he had a family, innit? A wife? What's it gonna be like for her?"

"Oh, don't worry about her," Annabeth says. "Didn't you hear? They recently divorced."

"Oh," Thalia says. "Well, that's good. Now I can return to my skulking uncompassionate ways and not feel bad about it."

Annabeth snorts and Percy just rolls his eyes. Their eyes meet and Percy is deathly afraid for a moment that it's going to get uncomfortable, since they are indirectly discussing their relationship, until she pulls a stupid face and he pulls one back, and even when Thalia catches them and mutters something like, "I will actually make you kiss if you don't sort yourselves out" the mood still doesn't drop, because Percy opens his arms and goes, "c'mon, Bethie, gimme a kiss" and Annabeth picks up an empty pot noodle cup and chucks at him, and that's when they all realise the cup wasn't empty, and Percy gets covered in bits of chicken and noodle and Nico laughs so hard he almost pees himself and altogether it's just a very comforting environment and Percy has never been happier.

* * *

Percy's phone is ringing, and he would answer it if he wasn't currently tangled in a mess of guitar wires.

"Percy, your phone is ringing," Nico quips.

Percy glares at him. "Really, I hadn't noticed."

"It was a subtle hint at you to go and answer it so it would stop ringing."

"Well, I would," he says. "But I'm currently in a bit of a predicament."

"And I myself am thoroughly enjoying it," Thalia says. "Because you both know how much I love seeing you in mildly irritating situations that cause grievances to your daily lives, but even I'm getting sick of your phone so, if you would, please extract yourself from those wires and answer the damn thing."

Percy pouts. "Taylor Swift is good."

"I'm not saying she's not, it's just that Shake It Off has been playing for the past twenty seconds and I'm already sick of it."

"Twenty seconds," Percy says in disbelief. "You're ridiculous."

"And you're going to be decapitated if you don't shut up your phone within the next three."

Rolling his eyes, Percy removes himself from the wires and picks up his phone.

"Percy," Annabeth says dramatically as soon as he presses answer. "Thank the Lord, I am so bored I feel like my eyes are falling out my skull."

He laughs. "Just do some work."

"I have!" she insists, and he laughs again. "I've filmed a video and I tried to edit it but I got antsy so then I baked some cupcakes and cleaned the bathroom cabinet and I took Ron and Bradley on a walk, you know how Bradley loves his walks, and I rearranged my bookshelf and contemplated dying my hair and now I've run out of things to do."

"Just– just contemplated?"

"I decided against it. It was a long and strenuous inner debate, though, I'll have you know. I've got one wall lined with sticky notes about all the pros and cons of it."

"Wow, you really are bored."

"You're so right. Let's go on a date."

She obviously means it in every platonic way you can use the word 'date' but Percy's heart does this pathetic little jump when she says it. "You're paying, I'm broke at the moment."

"You literally won half a million dollars in a court case," she says.

"That's not the point."

"Whatever. I'll do it. As long as it's something to do. I'd probably kill a dragon if you asked me, I'm _that_ bored."

Thalia wiggles her eyebrows at him. He flips her off and heads out the room.

"Where do you want to meet?"

"Madison's?"

Percy rolls his eyes affectionately. "Every time, Annabeth."

"Think of it as a donation. We're helping them stay open."

"They have plenty of customers."

"Who are also generous donors. If we don't go, who will?"

Percy sighs. "Your logic is unfairly flawless."

"I know, it's one of my best qualities."

"See you in ten."

She squawks in joy. "See you."

Eight months ago, it would have been I love you. But they're getting there.

* * *

Annabeth is already waiting there when Percy arrives.

She beams at him as he walks in. She looks almost devastatingly pretty, in a purple dress and a denim jacket Percy is almost certain once belonged to him. That one she took back as soon as they got back together. It was always one of her favourites, not as a comfort item (because she had plenty favourites from that selection) but as a genuine clothing piece. She looks almost unfairly better in it then Percy does, which he strongly resents because he's had several fans and web articles compliment him on that jacket, but there's a reason he let it go so easily, he supposes.

It's making this whole let's-be-friends thing a lot harder. Although he's not quite sure what would make it easier, either, since he's seen Annabeth dressed up to the nines and also in a lumpy shirt with greasy hair and smudged mascara and she's equally gorgeous in both so honestly this whole thing is like a giant catch-22.

"Hey," she says as he approaches. "I ordered you coffee, I hope that's okay. I know you like it with, like, a billion sugars."

"Thanks," he says gratefully as he sits down. "And it's not a billion, it's only four."

"That's still a lot of sugars."

"Whatever." He eyes up the piece of cake she's delicately picking apart. "I bet that's got more than four sugars in it."

"You're so stupid," she says.

"Annabelle?" calls the lady at the counter.

"That's you," Annabeth says. "I thought about not giving them my real name and then I realised it was pointless since they never get it right anyway."

Percy laughs a little and stands up to retrieve his coffee.

"You don't look like an Annabelle," the lady at the counter says.

"I get that a lot," he says.

He picks up his coffee and heads back to the table. Annabeth laughs when she sees him approaching.

"God, I can almost _smell_ the diabetes," she says.

"You suck," he says. "And I'm the one with a nice drink, so who's really winning here?"

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

They talk for hours. Percy almost forgets how good of a friend Annabeth could be. Like, of course he's disgustingly in love with her and he wants to marry her as soon as humanly possible, but she's just so easy to talk to that time dissolves when he's with her. They have to keep ordering coffees and cakes, just so they won't get kicked out for hogging up customer space.

Percy loves it. If Annabeth decides that she's not in love with him, he'll be heartbroken, but as long as he can keep her around, as at least a friend, then he'll be okay.

He doesn't realise how long they've bene talking until he looks up and sees that the sky has darkened significantly. He checks the time on his phone. 19:34. Whoa, they talked for a long time.

"Hey," he says. "You wanna get out of here?"

She beams at him. "I thought you'd never ask."

But when they step outside they immediately get blinded by the flash of a dozen cameras.

"Oh my God," Annabeth says.

Percy wants to scream. "Do they have _anything_ else to do?"

It's the paparazzi, who have somehow managed to find them yet again.

Without even thinking, Percy grabs Annabeth's hand and starts pulling her through the crowds. She may be more popular then he is in terms of media but YouTubers don't get mobbed like this, not by paparazzi, so this is his world, not hers, and he's going to be damned if he lets any of them lay a single finger on his girl.

"Head down," he shouts. "Don't let go of me."

Her grip tightens on his hand.

The paps are still screaming at them. There are cameras rippling with bright lights, like a garish, ghastly kind of Mexican wave gone horribly wrong, and Percy hates it all because normally there's a car to escape into, but this was just meant to be an innocent outing, that they both took the bus to, and they're not going to be able to get back home. Percy's not stupid – the media probably know where he lives. But following him to his doorstep is a very different thing to appearing unprovoked there, which is why he's normally allowed to duck in and out in peace. He can't leave them back home. They won't stay there all night, because eventually, like, Jennifer Lawrence or Lady Gaga will drive by in a big SUV and they'll go screaming after them instead, but they're nothing if not persistent.

Percy feels hopeless, and the longer he tugs Annabeth along, the more desperate he begins to feel. What does he do?

"Percy! Annabeth!" one of them shouts. "Are you two on a date?"

"Are you getting back together?"

"Annabeth, what do you have to say about this whole situation?"

"Percy, are you glad the court case went well?"

"Did you really think Percy cheated, Annabeth?"

And then suddenly Annabeth's hand slips from his.

Percy whips around immediately. Thank God, she hasn't been kidnapped and isn't kicking or screaming, but one of the paps has caught hold of her sleeve and is pressing a microphone into her face, demanding all these tings about the breakup and the D Scandal (as Thalia affectionately dubs it) ("get it, 'cause, like, 'd' means dick, and he was a–" "we get it, Thalia"). Annabeth looks petrified.

"Look, please," she's saying. "If you could just let go of me–"

"How did you feel when the news broke?" the reporter bellows.

Percy feels himself begin to simmer with rage.

"I'll answer your questions, just let go of me," Annabeth tries.

The reporter still keeps yelling at her. That's when Percy steps in.

"Hey!" he shouts. "Let go of her!"

Annabeth's head whips around, and the reporter looks up. Every camera is out. Percy no longer cares.

"Can you confirm that you two are dating?" the reporter asks. He still hasn't let go of Annabeth.

Percy pushes through the cluster of photographers in between them and yanks Annabeth out of his grasp. He shucks his hoodie off and passes it to her. It's big enough that she can almost disappear into it, and also it's the only thing he wears. It's going to smell like him probably until the end of the world, and even though they're not dating and everything is six months out of whack he knows that his scent is going to be the only thing that's going to be able to calm down. He thinks she's shaking.

He turns back to the reporter. "Listen, man, you can't just grabbing people like that, especially not a girl, okay? It's wrong."

The reporter's microphone lowers. He looks a little bashful, like a student getting reprimanded.

"Can you see that she's scared?" he asks. "Are you that awful that you'll willingly scare the crap out of a poor defenseless girl, just to make a headline? God, get a grip, all of you."

He's done here. He turns to Annabeth, and then puts his arm over his shoulders, pressing her into his side. She can't be hurt there. Together, they start to move. "All right, push off, all of you!" he shouts.

Percy's not normally one for shouting. That's Thalia's job, mainly. But one of those bastards dared lay a finger on Annabeth and he no longer gives a damn about restraints, or how they're not dating, he is going to protect this girl to the grave and to _hell_ if anyone sees a problem with that.

The reporters part like a red sea. Percy can feel Annabeth's fingers digging into his side, and he tightens his hold on her shoulders. She's pulled the hood of his jumper up over her head, and he almost hunches himself over her. They've already gotten their pictures but once upon a time Percy was Annabeth's safety and dammit if he's not going to try again. They head down the street together, moving towards the bus stop. Thank God, no one tries to follow them.

"This isn't our bus," Annabeth says quietly.

"I don't care, we just need to get away. I'll call Thalia to pick us up."

Annabeth nods silently in response.

They climb on, and Percy pays the driver, and then together they sit on a seat. Percy catches a girl in a yellow shirt staring at them, or, more specifically, at Annabeth, but when Percy catches her eye he gives her a tiny shake of the head, and then she nods. At least their fans are respectable in that sense. Sometimes Percy almost hates where he is, not because of what he's done, because he loves that, but because of the complete and utter lack of respect for his privacy.

Annabeth leans against him, quiet and pliant in the aftershock. The hood has slipped down a little, showing how pale and subdued she is, with her curls frizzy and slipping out of her ponytail. She's folded up in a little ball, and she's leaning completely against him, her head on his chest, the side of her body against his, and he's got his arm around her, and if it had been any other time, Percy would have delicately extracted himself, because this was not what they did anymore, but she needs it, and maybe this is the catalyst to what more they could pursue.

It's been at least two months. Percy thinks they're pretty well acquainted by now.

He uses his free hand to text Thalia.

 **Percy** : hey we're on louise avenue can u pick us up

 **Thalia** : i'll be there soon

They get off the bus, Annabeth still stuck to Percy's side. Percy trips a little getting off the bus because his legs are not proportionate to his body quite in the slightest, and Annabeth snickers at him and calls him nerd but it's slightly half-hearted, and when they wait by a lamppost for Thalia to arrive she keeps absently stroking the strip of skin the reporter grabbed her. Percy isn't sure if she realises she's doing it, but it makes his heart clench and if he had any doubts before he knows that he hates the paparazzi now.

Thalia appears a few minutes later, in Argus's big black car.

She sticks her head out the window. "Hey," she says, her face furrowed in concern. "Are you two okay?"

Percy nods. "We're okay. Just – a run in with the paps."

"Ah, right." Thalia rolls her eyes knowingly. "I'm sure it was as cheerful and pleasant as always. Come on, then, hop in."

They both clamber into the car, and Thalia meets Percy's eyes in the rearview mirror, a silent is she okay? Percy just avoids her stare and pulls Annabeth into his side again. She hums noncommittally and rests her head against his chest, staring out the window.

"How did you even get the car?" Percy asks. "Isn't this Argus's?"

"How very observant of you, Percy, my love," Thalia says. "Argus isn't here at the moment, so I borrowed it."

"You're probably not allowed to do that."

"Luckily for me, I'm not very good at 'not allowed', so here we are." She revs the engine and the car sets off. "Have you both got your seatbelts on?"

"You haven't got your seatbelt on," Annabeth points out quietly.

"You're both so observant today," Thalia says, slightly shrewishly.

Percy and Annabeth look at each other and crack a grin.

"So, where is it?" Thalia says. "Seeing as I'm now your chauffer. I demand to be paid for my services, may I say."

Percy ignores her and looks down at Annabeth. "Do you want us to drop you off at yours or do you wanna come in with us?"

"I'll go to yours."

"You owe me a lot of money, Jackson," Thalia says.

"You both literally just got five hundred thousand dollars," Annabeth says.

"That's not the point," Thalia and Percy say together.

She just huffs and rests her head on Percy's chest. Thalia pulls a knowing face in the rearview mirror and smirks. Percy decides to ignore her and revels in the feeling of Annabeth so close to him. He's not sure when they're going to next be able to do this.

Thalia pulls into the front of their apartment block. She parks haphazardly on the side of the road, probably breaking several laws, but she looks pleased with herself, and Percy doesn't have the heart to tell her that she's parked on a double yellow. They all climb out of the car and into the block, taking the elevator up.

Thalia is very lovely and looks at her phone the entire way up, so she doesn't have to look at Percy and Annabeth. Annabeth isn't clinging onto Percy anymore, which is kind of a shame because Percy liked her doing that, but she's still wearing his hoodie, and when the doors slide open she reaches for his hand and laces her fingers with his. She's not doing it in a grabby way, more just a way of comfort. She's tired, Percy sees it in her face. The two of them used to be mobbed like that all the time when they were dating, but six months is a long time, and you get used to things pretty quickly. She doesn't get mobbed on her own. It's Percy that does it. They've also never been physical, not grabbing onto them. This whole thing is just draining.

It gets even weirder when they walk in and see Nico and Will on the sofa, rather heavily kissing. With lots of inappropriate pawing. In inappropriate places.

"For God's sake," Thalia says, and they both separate with a gasp, staring wildly at her. "It's like everyone has just got a love disease."

"You said she wasn't going to be back for an hour," Will says, breathing heavily.

"She said she was going out," Nico says. "I didn't know that meant only twenty minutes."

"Hey," Percy says.

"Oh," Nico says, obviously displeased. "Percy's here, too."

"And a good thing, too," Thalia says, dropping her keys. "I fear if it was just me my presence by itself wouldn't have been enough to stop you both and in ten minutes you'd both be completely naked. At least we have another barrier."

Will manages a laugh. Nico just pouts.

Percy takes Annabeth's hand. "We'll be in my bedroom," he says.

"If you start getting freaky, too, I'll kick you out the band," Thalia says.

Percy just rolls his eyes, and leads Annabeth inside, shutting the door behind him. He knows that talking might not come easy, so he just drops himself on his bed with his arms open. "Wanna join?" he says.

Annabeth goes almost immediately. She curls up next to him, the knob of her ponytail holder through her ponytail digging into Percy's shoulder as she stares up at the ceiling. He doesn't have the heart to tell her, so he doesn't. They lay in contemplative silence for a while, and for a moment it's almost like the old days. Percy absently strokes circles on Annabeth's shoulder and Annabeth hums into his chest, and outside his door he can hear the low buzz of noises and the faint rattle of the kettle, and he feels like he might almost fall asleep. It might be best for him, actually. Today's been quite exhausting.

However, just before he nods off completely, Annabeth mumbles, "Sorry about today, by the way."

He frowns. "For what?"

She shrugs. "Just– being all mopey and stuff. It wasn't that big of a deal."

Percy frowns again, and then props himself up on one elbow, staring down at her. "It was a big deal, though. He shouldn't have grabbed you."

"It wasn't like he was inappropriately touching me. He just took my wrist."

"Yeah, aggressively, and when you asked him repeatedly to let go he didn't. You have every right to feel violated."

Annabeth just sighs, and smiles, weakly. "You rescued me. My knight in shining armour."

Percy plops back down on his back, quite chuffed. "Yes, well. All in a day's work."

She shoves at him, and he laughs.

"I mean it," she says. "Thank you. You– you literally did save me, kind of. I might have just stood there and cried until he let go."

"That would have been extremely effective. He probably would've gotten fired."

"All these missed opportunities," Annabeth muses.

"You should consider it next time."

"I will."

There's a thoughtful silence.

"What are we doing, Percy?" she asks, and Percy's eyebrows furrow, because this is serious talk, he thinks. "I– are we meant to be lying like this, holding each other like this? I mean– friends don't do this, do they?"

"No," Percy says. "They don't."

Annabeth doesn't speak for a while, before she rolls onto her stomach, resting her chin on Percy's chest. "I'm thinking of adopting another cat," she says.

Percy raises an eyebrow. "Another one?"

But she doesn't respond. She keeps going. "My favourite animal is an owl. Piper and I painted the hallway yellow when we were drunk. We changed the mat because Socks peed on it. I bought a new nail polish called 'regal purple' and it's my new favourite. I went vegan for a week because Piper dared me and now I'm not sure I like cheese anymore. I uploaded sixteen YouTube videos and met forty-three fans on the street."

Percy frowns. "What–?"

"That's all that's changed," Annabeth says. "From six months ago. That's all that's happened. I'm still the same."

Suddenly, it dawns on him. "You want us..."

Annabeth nods. "When you protected me today, I – that was the moment I fell in love with you again. I think I might have been in love all along, but today, when you helped me – that's when I knew it. And I realised I don't want to be separated from you ever again."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"I mean–"

"Percy." Annabeth looks down at him, almost reprimandingly. "Forty to fifty percent of married couples get divorced."

He pauses. Talk about topic change. "Uh?"

"Ninety nine point six percent of artists are undiscovered. An even bigger percentage are of those who don't make it big. And you have a 2.6 percent chance of getting big on YouTube to the scale that I have."

"I – I don't follow."

"What this means, is that we're kind of freaks when it comes to statistics, okay? Look at you. You've sold millions and millions of albums. I'm– Percy, I'm approaching almost ten million subscribers. Sometimes I see my face on billboards. We're crazy." She smiles at him, softly. "If– if we can get where we are now, I think we're going to be okay. What's to say our luck won't land us in the fifty to sixty percent of those who don't split up?"

Percy smiles at her. "I love you, Annabeth Chase."

"I love you, too. Can I kiss you now?"

"Please."

They kiss, and it finally feels like coming home.

* * *

 **A/N hey guys!**

 **first off – 5sos's new song is amazing. i loved it so much i even put it as the song quote. it is very good. i suggest you take a little listen for i love it with every inch of my soul.**

 **and then secondly – HEY YALL WE REACHED 600**

 **LADS! YOU GUYS! I JUST! WOW! you are actually CRAZY. i could have sworn it was at least like two chapters ago that I was losing my crap over 500 but 600! IN TWO CHAPTERS! you know how to spoil a girl, honestly. i love you all!**

 **as per tradition:**

 **Shadow3636** – hey thanks pal! x

 **Penny [guest]** – thank you ever so much! your reviews are always so lovely so thanks!

 **JustARandomNerd** – omg thank you so so much! you are actually the sweetest that means so so much to me *blows lots and lots of kisses*

 **TheWritingManiac** – oh Rachel my ball of wonderfulness you are so sweet and lovely thank you dearly for like everything you're too loVELY

 **JustARandomFandomer** – thank you!

 **burnt up feeling** – ilyy x

 **fierro rocher** – omg thanks!

 **Random Reader** – thank you so so much that means a lot! and hehe yes i have read sworn off love it's a simply MARVELLOUS piece of work

 **allineedisabook [guest]** – FRIEND! THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOURE ALWAYS SO SWEET AND WONDERFUL! I LOVE YOU LOTS!

 **Panda1912** – you're too nice thank you so much! xxxx

 **Wisdomsqueen** – well now they are haha

 **King** **of the Souls** – thank you so much!

 **WiseGirl1609** – THEY GOT BACK TOGETHER WOOO

 **Krystaltheelemental** – aaaahhh thank you!

 **ThePangolin** – thanks!

 **Qwertywerido** – probably haha!

 **mylifedependsonSOLANGELO** – well my lovely here you are!

 **Zyrothe** – wow i really love it! it's an amazing song!

 **AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter** – wow thank you so much! that's such a lovely thing to tell someone so thank you xx

 **Cheerra12** – thanks pal!

 **Triggered** Bleach – thank you ever so much you are so wonderful xx

 **Darknight179** \- *hair flip* what can i say im not like other girls (im kidding thank you so much friend haha)

 **KittyCat809** – ahh thanks! hope this made your meeting a little better hehe

 **thank you to absolutely EVERYONE who ever reviews. you make my day every time i see a notification. you guys are the best and i LOVE you all xxx**

 **(having said that do wish me luck i've got my mocks next week aka hell so hopefully i do quite well in them haha)**

 **(also GLEE! I haven't spoken about it lots because i always forget but it's my newest obsession. if any of you watch glee and want to rant hit me UP [im only on season 3 be nice] but KLAINE! FINCHEL! ALL THESE SHIPS! WOW!)**

 **i hope you enjoyed that my lovelies! i'll see you next Saturday! xx**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

* * *

"If our love's insanity  
Then why are you my clarity?"

\- Clarity, Zedd and Foxes

* * *

 **THE DEMIGODS GET RAW AND REAL**

by Clover Pallow

The Demigods are a band who straddle the line between 90s underground punk-rock and modern-day pop, with loud, cheerful guitar music that speaks of a yearning for childhood years and a desperation to break away. A three-piece originating from a boarding school in Virginia consisting of cousins Percy Jackson [vocals, guitar], Thalia Grace [bass], and Nico di'Angelo [drums], they were a whirlwind from the moment they stepped into the business, and their impressive trajectory doesn't appear to be slowing anytime soon. With an upcoming album on the brink of release, yesterday I sat down with them.

On stage they are unstoppable, with roaring guitars and a combined stage presence that explodes across arenas and makes even the fans seated at the back feel important, but up close they are boisterously sweet and wonderful. Grace appears to be the frontman when it comes to helming interviews, whereas Jackson and di'Angelo mostly nod along with her and add little inputs.

 **So, you've got an album nearly out. How's that feel?**

Thalia: Amazing, honestly. We've put so much work into it. I think this is our best one yet.

Nico: You say that every time.

Thalia: Well, it's true!

 **What's the feel for this album? What's the theme?**

Nico: What an excellent question.

Thalia: Would you like to answer then, Socrates?

Nico: Gladly, O Less Talented One. I think this album for us– it's a lot about learning, and loving, and healing. We've written it in some tough situations in life, and we also wrote it in the happier times, of fixing things back up, you know?

Percy: Yeah.

 **Can you tell us about some of those tough times?**

Nico: Perce?

Percy: Yeah, sure. Uh. Well. Obviously there was the whole – scandal thing, about Annabeth, and – Mr D, and stuff. He's our producer, by the way. Pretty big. Powerful. Important.

Thalia: Now divorced and several hundred thousand dollars in debt.

Percy: That, too. Uh. It was a time of heartbreak, and loss for me? I don't know. Not even just in the Annabeth sense, even though that was pretty– hard, I guess. I lost some friends along the way, and we've all patched things up, except now I know what it's like to be in– well, complete desolation, right? It was a rough few months, and I was pretty – torn. Messed up, a bit. Some of the stuff was actually pretty intense – we had to like, chop and choose, so we wouldn't depress everyone. But then as you get through the album it– progresses, I think, because that's when things started to look better, and when I got all my friends back, and my girlfriend, and – yeah.

 **So you can confirm that you and Annabeth Chase are now dating?**

Percy: I mean. Yeah. Yeah, we are.

Nico: And you can print that!

* * *

"I'm so glad this is happening," Nico says, pleased.

Thalia crossly flicks a packet of sugar across the table. "Whatever. I'm not enjoying myself."

"Well, at least pretend to," Nico says. "Thalia, I'm not sure you realise how monumental this occasion is. I've been planning this ever since Percy first laid eyes on Annabeth."

"You hadn't even met Will at that point," Percy says.

"Exactly. That's how long this idea has been in the works."

Thalia just rolls her eyes.

They're on a double date. Like. A real double date. At first Nico had tried to call it a triple date, and then Thalia had bent his thumbs backwards and said seriously, "Nico the joke I made three years ago about me dating myself was nothing more than that, a joke, and on the behalf of all fifty four of the bones in your hands combined I will suggest you never ever refer to this as a triple date ever again" and he had taken to calling it a double and a half date.

("That's better," she says.

"But I feel awful," Nico says. "It makes you sound–"

"What, like I'm fifth wheeling on a gross love fest?" Thalia says innocently. "Now, Nico dearest, where would you ever get that idea?"

Nico pulls an apologetic wince. "I mean?")

The three of them are all waiting at a small, pretty diner for their respective dates. They're getting quite a few looks, but it's not because anyone's recognizing them – Percy reckons it's because of how out of place and odd they look in here. Percy at least attempted to dress up, in black jeans, a tie and a button-up that his stylist had once told him made his eyes look spectacular, and then there's Nico, who has also tried, and toned down his all-black ensemble for something a little less– stark (aka a grey T-shirt and jeans), and then Thalia, who really does not give a crap, in a leather jacket, Marilyn Manson T-shirt, blue highlights and chunky combat boots.

Together, the three of them probably look like a family who has never met each other before. It's okay.

In fact, it only gets weirder when Will arrives, in a white-button down, yellow jeans and a yellow bow tie, and then plops down in between Nico and Thalia in all their black glory and presses a cheerful kiss to Nico's cheek. He looks like the embodiment of sunshine. A very well-dressed embodiment of sunshine. And he's sitting between two people who look like the embodiment of death.

The couple behind them pretending not to look are having a field day.

"Hello all!" Will says pleasantly. "Percy, you look dashing. Thalia, as bright as always."

She preens. "Thanks."

"Where's Annabeth?"

"She said she's gonna be a few minutes late," Percy says. "Traffic is awful, apparently."

"You didn't say anything about how I looked," Nico says. "I'm considering a divorce."

"You know I think you look good."

Nico gives him a fond smile. "Oh, _you_."

Will smiles back, just as soppily. "You."

"You sound like such married couples," Thalia says. "I'm gonna barf."

"One day you'll understand," Nico says, patting her on the shoulder. "But if you keep this up on your wedding day I will put laxatives in me and Percy's drinks and time it so perfectly so when you are reciting your vows we either projectile vomit or have sudden and incredibly intense diarrhoea right where you stand."

Percy frowns down at his menu. "Right."

"And who knows?" Nico says. "Maybe we'll find you a date here. And then it really will become a triple date. Although in order for it to be a double date in the first place Percy's other half needs to appear."

"If she doesn't me and Thalia can pretend," Percy says. "We look just unalike enough to pass off as a couple."

"I will hurl all over you."

"It gets us the couple's discount! Twenty percent off if you're a couple! And we've got two so that would be a forty percent discount."

"If we really wanted to go all out we could just pretend you, Percy and Annabeth are a big polygamous couple," Nico says. "That might score us, like, a triple discount."

"How about we don't discuss how Percy and I are dating," Thalia says. "This is almost as awkward as it was when I get asked about those sexy photoshoots."

Percy sighs blissfully. "Those were some sexy photoshoots."

"Yeah, not sure what happened," Thalia says, with a good-natured pat to his tummy. "Looks like you've grown a bit. No more abs."

Percy pouts.

Annabeth chooses that moment to appear. She looks very pretty, in a dark blue dress with her hair soft around her shoulders. She gives Percy a kiss on the head as she slides into the booth, beaming at them all. She's not wearing much makeup so Percy can see all her freckles, and he almost faints right there. How did he luck out this much? "Hey!" she says. "Sorry for the delay, traffic was horrendous."

"Percy mentioned," Nico says. "And don't worry, it's all good. We were just discussing Thalia's futile love life."

"Fascinating," Annabeth says. "What's happening in it?"

"Nothing," Nico says. "Hence the word 'futile'."

"Not that I'm particularly looking for anything, may I add," Thalia says.

"You could," Annabeth suggests. "There are lots of attractive waiters here. We could hook you up."

"Yes, I might pass on that. Can we order now?"

"Gladly," Will says. "What do we all want?"

Percy picks up the menu, and he feels Annabeth wriggle in close to him to get a look. "Look," he says. "I know sharing a dish is romantic, but I'm a bit of a hungry teenage boy, and I'm not sure I'll be able to."

"Your twenty-first is in like two weeks."

"Same difference."

"But that's okay, I didn't want to share anyway. I wanted to get a pizza, and I know you're on that weird 'diet' thing."

Will raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"Yeah, man," Percy says. "This new producer. Far out. He's all about healthiness. He's got us hooked up with vegan shakes and gym memberships, and he's installed a weightlift in the studio. He's called Priapus. He's not letting us eat dairy for two weeks."

Will frowns. "That doesn't sound great."

"Nah, he's okay. He's not Mr D in any case. And he's okay, even though he's weird."

"I think we can skip it for today," Nico says. "To the double and a half date!"

They all clink their empty glasses.

After a few minutes of deliberation, a waitress appears. She's tan, with long black hair in a braid down her back, and a haughty expression on her face. She takes a notepad out of her back pocket. "Hello, welcome to Giovanni's," she says. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have a Hawaiian," Percy says.

"You disgust me," Annabeth says. "I'll have a pepperoni and olive, thank you. Nico?"

"Uh, me and Will are both having raviolis," he says.

The girl jots it all down, and then turns to Thalia. "And what can I get you?" she says, her dark eyes glinting.

Percy wouldn't believe it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but Thalia actually blushes. She clears her throat and stares resolutely down at her menu. "I'll have the cannelloni," she says quietly.

The girl writes it down, and collects the menus. With a look Thalia's way, she disappears with the flick of her hair.

Percy is all over her the second the girl is out of earshot. "What was that?" he demands, almost diving straight over the table. "You like her!"

"What?" Thalia scoffs. "Don't be stupid."

"You do!" Percy jabs a finger at her. "You were blushing! She was flirting with you!"

"She's cute, too," Annabeth says.

"Great cheekbones," Will agrees.

"No," Thalia says. "This is – that was nothing. She just asked for my order."

"I could smell the attraction," Nico says, and then sniffs lewdly – and very loudly – to emphasise his point. "Don't deny it, Grace. You liked her!"

"You should get her number," Percy says. "Or invite her over, and we can have a triple date."

"No," Thalia says firmly. "That – no. Preposterous."

"We'll hook you up," Percy soothes. "Don't worry."

"No, don't!"

Percy spies her across the room, coming over to their table with a tray full of waters. He sits up and smirks, straightening his tie. "Look, here she comes."

" _No_ , oh my _God_." Thalia reaches for his hand, trying to get him to look at her. "Percy, if you dare do _anything_ –" She stops when the girl comes close and smiles tightly. "Hey."

If the girl notices anything off about the tension on the table, she doesn't mention it. She just smiles and puts the waters down on the table, but Percy isn't finished.

He leans against the table. "So," he says. "You work here?"

Thalia drops her head in her hand.

The girl smirks. "I do, yes."

"Can we get your name?"

"I'm Reyna."

"Reyna," Percy muses. "What a lovely name. Don't you think so, Thalia?"

Thalia scowls down at the table. "Yeah, I guess."

"Do you want to sit down?" Nico offers. "We're on a double and a half date. The half being our very, very single friend Thalia here."

Reyna laughs a bit. "That's very kind and generous of you, but my shift doesn't end for half an hour, so I'll have to decline."

"Well, we'll probably be here for more than half an hour," Percy says. "In case you do want to join us. In the mean time we'll just discuss the mountains of other suitors Thalia dearest here has vying for her attention."

Thalia looks like she wants to kill him, and normally that'd be enough to stop Percy in his tracks and possibly also go on his knees and beg for forgiveness because Thalia rarely issues empty threats, but he's having far too much fun to stop now.

Reyna laughs. "Well, I've leave you to it. I hope you have a nice time here. The meals shouldn't be too much longer."

"You're the only meal Thalia needs right now," Nico mutters under his breath, and Will has to fake a sudden coughing bout to disguise his laughter. Reyna doesn't hear him, and instead walks away towards the kitchens.

As soon as she's gone, Thalia points her fork at Percy. "How dare you," she says. "I said be cool. That was the least most subtle thing you've ever done."

"Subtle is my middle name!"

"You have the subtlety of a dump truck, Jackson. That was so embarrassing, God. Any chance I did have with her is like – out the window now!"

"I'd beg to differ," Nico says. "I think we just scored you a date."

He and Percy high five over the table.

"You both are so dumb," Annabeth says.

Percy slings his arm around her and presses a kiss to her cheek, and she rolls her eyes. "But you do love us."

"Yes, I suppose."

Nico begins to get that proud-dad look in his eyes again. He raises his glass. "A toast," he says. "To Annabeth and Percy finally getting their crap together, and this time with no deceptive, butt-ugly producers to ruin it, and us getting to have this wonderful double date-and-a-half-possibly-a-triple-date together to celebrate."

"I'll cheers that one," Percy says, and they all clink glasses again. Annabeth settles in against Percy's chest contentedly. "Here's to us finally having a happily ever after."

"Amen," Nico says, taking a sip of his water. "No more drama. No more scandals. Just you two, and us two, and Thalia with Reyna in the background."

"Me and Reyna are not–"

"Whatever," Nico says. He peers at her. "Look, are you really that upset about the whole Reyna thing? We'll lay off if it bothers you that much, won't we, Perce? It's just – I thought maybe you needed someone. You've been all grouchy recently. Grouchier than usual, in any respect. And I thought a bit of love would be cool. It's like that Beatles song, you know. All you need is love, right?"

Thalia scowls at him. "I'm not upset at that, don't be daft. I'm just going over in my head how exactly you managed to rope me into this double date."

"And a half," Nico adds. "That bit's important."

Thalia rolls her eyes, but she's suppressing a smile.

"Here, Will," Nico says. "Show her that design you were talking about. Thalia, Will came up with this great idea for our album cover photoshoot, you'll love it..."

Their voices drift away as Percy closes his eyes and rests his head on top of Annabeth's. He doesn't think he's ever felt so content before in his life. He's surrounded by four of his best friends, in an Italian restaurant that does fricking great pasta, with the love of his life snuggled into his side and the bastard who took her away somewhere in lots of debt and probably no chance of getting a job ever again. He just feels so happy and safe and pleasant that he kind of just wants to smush everyone into a big hug and never, ever let them go.

"Hey, Perce?" Annabeth says softly, from his shoulder.

He hums noncommittally.

"I read the article. The one in the Radley Magazine."

"Did you like it?"

"Well, you talked about me a lot, so obviously."

He snorts.

"No, but seriously," she says, and he opens his eyes, because she obviously brought up the article for a reason and it wasn't because he mentioned her a lot. "It was a very lovely article. In fact, it's framed in my office right now."

"You're either a liar or the sappiest cheeseball I've ever met in my whole life."

"I'll leave you to decide which one. But, um." She looks almost hesitatny now. "Did – did you mean what you said? About – the breakup?"

"What do you mean?"

"You– you said it put you in a pretty bad place, and that you wrote some stuff so bad you couldn't even put it on the album. Is– are you–"

"Annabeth," he says. "I'm fine."

"But–"

"That was a while ago, but yes, it was the truth, yes. It's not fun to have everyone you've ever cared about turn your back on you because of some elaborate lie, and having no one except your cousins believe you. It sucked. And– I wasn't in a great place, for a while, that's true. But it's in the past. I'm okay. You were probably just as bad as me."

"Yeah, but the world was on my side."

"It doesn't even matter anymore. It happened a while ago. The album is going to have some sad breakup songs on it. It's no different than, like, a Taylor Swift album."

"But it is, because they're about me."

"Annabeth, believe me when I say, this is the happiest I've probably ever been. I mean, look at us! Our album is nearly finished. I've got you in my life, and I love you the end of the world and back, and yes, we've both been through hell, and it's not fun, but if it meant getting you like this now, and getting everyone else like this, all of us, on this date together, then I'd do it ten times over. We've got each other now. We're _happy_ , and I'm so glad we're doing this together. Honestly."

Annabeth watches him for a long time, before she sighs. "Okay."

"I love you."

She rolls her eyes. "I love you too, nerd." She kisses his cheek, and then his mouth, because she can.

"Oi, stop being gross," Thalia says.

"That was barely a kiss," Percy says.

"I don't care, your two mouths touched and I'm pretty sure I made it very clear when signing up for this date that if I sensed so much as a whiff of PDA I was going to hightail it out of here."

"But you won't do that," Nico says. "Because of Rey-Rey."

"Bloody hell," Thalia says. "We don't even know her, don't call her Rey-Rey."

"Here are your meals," says a voice, and everyone jumps because holy crap it's _Reyna_ and how much, exactly, had she heard? It appears not much, from her nonchalant expression, but she gives Thalia a little wink as she sets her plate down. "Enjoy your meals."

"Thanks, Rey-Rey," Thalia says, and then looks like she wants to throw herself off a cliff. "I–I mean Rey–Reyna! Reyna!"

Percy is overly pleased. Reyna's grin grows.

"It's okay, hon," she says. To the rest of the table, she smiles. "Enjoy your meals. I'll be behind the counter if you need anything." She throws a look Thalia's way as she walks away.

Percy is so excited he almost throttles her. "Thalia! Look at you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she says stubbornly.

"You're so getting her number after this," Nico says, pleased.

Annabeth starts pulling her pizza apart. "Oh, do leave her alone. Look, she's scandalized."

"I can't help it if I want my cousin to be happy," Percy says.

"Yes you can. Look, pizza. Eat."

Pouting, Percy pulls a slice of pizza away and starts eating it. Hawaiian pizza has always been a controversial topic for everyone, so he tries to eat in the least attention-bringing way he can to avoid yet another conversation about this. Thalia and Nico and then later Annabeth have all tried to convert him. He just hopes Will, with his cool yellow bowtie and yellow jeans, is as accepting as his clothes.

He's quite in luck. When Will catches him eating, he beams. "Hawaiian!" he says. "Always a classic."

"Marry him," Percy tells Nico.

"Slow your rodeo, cowboy," Nico says, which makes no sense. "Me and Will are taking things slow."

"Wow, so many things suddenly make sense," Thalia says dryly, scooping up her canelloni. "Like how yesterday I walked into your both with your–"

"Look, it's Reyna," Will gabbles, and as Thalia impulsively turns he crams a slice of baguette from the bread basket and crams it in her mouth.

"Besides," Nico says conversationally, after Thalia has managed to extract the bread from her mouth without choking. "If anyone's going to get married anytime soon it'd be you and Annabeth, Percy."

"You two have been dating longer than us, though," Annabeth says, confused.

"Love is timeless."

Annabeth's brow furrows. "W–what?"

"Well, half of us aren't even at the legal drinking age yet," Thalia says. "Let's slow our rolls before we start getting ahead of ourselves."

Percy pouts. "I'm twenty-one next month."

"Whatever," Thalia says. "Enjoy your last few weeks of childhood."

They all turned twenty-one months before he did. Even Annabeth is twenty-one now. Whatever.

They all finish their meals comfortably. Percy doesn't think the five of them have ever really sat down like this and talked, at a nice formal dinner (or as formal as it can get with Thalia in a leather jacket), and he honestly loves it. He thinks about telling Nico to schedule more of these double and a half dates. He thinks they're ever so much fun. Maybe if their schedules coincide Piper and Jason can join them, too, and it can be a ripple and a half date. Maybe Reyna might be there too.

Wait.

 _Reyna_.

Percy shoots up like he's been electrocuted.

"Reyna!" he shouts.

Reyna looks up across the room. He shakes his head. "Sorry, not you."

"What other Reyna are you talking about?" Annabeth asks with a snicker. "There are no other Reynas here."

"Remember when Piper went to Canada with Jason? And his friend Reyna was coming along?"

Annabeth frowns. "You don't think is her, do you?"

"I mean, maybe," Percy says. "Jason's an attractive dude, and I mean that in every platonic sense I can because he's my cousin and that's gross. He and Reyna sounded like long-term friends. I'm not saying he's a total chick magnet, even though that's exactly what I'm saying, but it would make sense that the reason she didn't jump his bones was because it wasn't _his_ bones she wanted to jump."

"You mean because she's gay?" Annabeth asks dryly.

"That's exactly what I mean. This could be her."

"I sincerely doubt that."

"Send a picture of her to Piper and get her to confirm."

"What, are you crazy? That's so creepy."

"Well, we need to check! And if she isn't, cool, so what, but if she is that means this is even further proof that we were destined to be the best group of friends you'll find. I mean, all our lives are intertwined! It's practically fate!"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "We could just ask her, you know."

"What's the fun in that?"

She rolls her eyes again. Percy considers the chances of her one day rolling her eyes out of her head.

They finish their meals rather quickly. The food is delicious and Percy feels like he's eaten the entire state of Alabama and he needs to be cut open for him to move, but he feels like if he eventually falls into a coma it'll all be worth it because of how incredibly amazing it was. They get the check and talk easily amongst themselves as Reyna brings it over, and then heads back to the counter to get the card scanner.

Nico peers at the check and frowns.

"What's up?" Percy asks.

Nico ignores him. He waves his hand, and Reyna comes over to him, with her notepad in her hand. "Everything all right, sir?" she asks easily.

"Yeah, yeah," he says. "It's just– you got the bill wrong. There are only two couples here, we should only have had forty percent off. You have us sixty."

Reyna smirks at Thalia. "That wasn't a mistake, sir."

It takes a few seconds, but then Nico beams. "All right, then!"

Thalia goes scarlet. Percy is simply over the moon, and gives Annabeth a big kiss right on the mouth. She laughs in surprise.

"By the way," Percy says hurriedly, before Reyna can run off. "You– don't happen to know anyone called Jason, do you?"

Reyna's forehead creases. "I do, why?"

Percy and Annabeth exchange looks. "You don't mean – Jason Grace, do you?"

Thalia sits up. "Wait, what?"

"I do know Jason Grace," Reyna says. "Blond, blue-eyed? Scar on the lip?"

"How do you know Jason?" Nico asks.

"This is the chick Piper was complaining about," Percy explains.

"Oh, the one who went to Canada with him." Nico smiles at her. "Nice to meet you, Canada-Girl."

"How do you guys know Jason?" Reyna asks.

"He's Thalia's brother," Percy says. "We're all his cousins. Well. Not all of us. The blondes don't belong to us."

Reyna smiles. "Oh, so you're the famous sister." She gives Thalia a once-over. "Pretty impressive, I have to say."

Thalia goes red. She sips furiously at her water.

"It's great to meet you," Annabeth says. "Piper does like you, I promise."

Reyna laughs. "I know, we hashed things over in Canada with Jason. It's all good."

"Marvellous," Percy says. "Well, Nico, you pay, we'd best be off. It's been lovely seeing you, Reyna."

"You, too," Reyna says, as Nico fumbles for his card. As Thalia stands up, Percy sees Reyna slip something into her back pocket, and he grins widely. When Annabeth gives him a questioning look, he just kisses her temple and helps her into her coat.

They all leave in high spirits. Will takes the lead, with Nico and Annabeth, and Percy hangs back with Thalia.

He leans in. "What did she give you?"

"If you breathe so much as a word about this I'll cut you open, I swear."

"You got her number?"

"Percy–"

"I _knew_ it!"

"Shut up, oh my God."

He dances ahead of her. "Thalia's in looooveeee!"

* * *

 **A/N Hello all!**

 **I hope I find you all in good health and stuff! i hope you liked this chapter (i made it nice and fluffy for you guys so i hope you enjoyed) because i most certainly loved writing it have i ever mentioned how much i love writing friendships**

 **anyway**

 **how have you guys been? England got this giant blast of snow and it's been utterly freezing all week now. we got a late start and then an early finish and then we just got a snow day so i got the entire thing off so hoorah less school!**

 **also i had my mocks week this week (basically a week of tests what fun) but almost half were cancelled because of the snow so i get to catch up on them next week how exciting (wish me luck haha)**

 **anyway! that's all i really have for today, so i hope you enjoy, and I shall see you next week! xxx**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

* * *

"Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing  
We are just one big family  
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved"

– I'm Yours, Jason Mraz

* * *

 **Los Angeles, California**

Thalia storms inside and slams the door. Percy looks up from where he's sat on the sofa with his phone and gives her a pleasant smile.

"Someone's not happy," he remarks dryly.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner," she snaps. "What gave it away? The scowl, or the fact that I want to throw Priapus and his bloody _representation morals_ under a twelve-tonne truck?"

Percy sits up. "Hold on, what?"

Thalia slams her bag down. "Me and Reyna can't date, apparently."

"For heaven's sake," Nico says. "Is anyone in this band allowed to date?"

"You," Thalia says. "And thanks to you, I can't date my girlfriend now. Magnificent."

Nico looks alarmed. "Wait, what? What did I do?"

"You dated Will."

"What– what's that got to do with anything?"

Thalia sighs, but Percy can almost see the anger draining out of her. She's not angry at them. "Apparently, we're only allowed to have one gay member of the band. If godforbid we have more than that, we'll turn ourselves into a 'pride parade' and lose all our following, whatever the hell that means."

Nico blinks. "Wait, you can't date Reyna because only one of us is allowed to be gay?"

"That's completely daft," Percy says.

"Easy for you to say," Thalia grouches. "At least you can date whoever you want."

Percy points his phone at her. "Maybe let's not go there."

"I know." She drops onto one of the stools and puts her head in her hands. "Can we just have one, peaceful year, that involves no drama around our relationships? Just one?"

"We can protest," Percy says. "If he doesn't let you and Reyna date I'll tweet out that all three of us are in one big relationship, all of us, and that's way worse then having two gay members of the band."

"Besides," Nico says. "It's not as if you not dating Reyna is going to ease the gay."

"Or I could stuff his cupboards with chicken carcasses," Percy promises. "And put protein powder in his kale smoothies. I'll do it."

Thalia smiles weakly at them. "Thanks, but no thanks. We'll just have to live like this."

"No," Percy says. "Trust me, I know what it's like to have your relationship trapped like this, and it sucks. To the point where half our album is me being angsty and brooding."

"Something I shall never ever let you live down," Nico says.

"Wait until those songs win us Grammys, you cow, then you'll be the one talking. But that's not the point. I mean, Priapus is new. We can sack him. We don't have any emotional attachment to him. Not that we had any to Mr D, either, but that's different."

"I definitely have no emotional attachment to him," Nico says. "He made me throw out my fries and eat grilled courgette instead."

"Exactly," Percy says. He turns to Thalia and looks her right in the eyes. "We are going to do this for you, okay? It's how it is in the band. If one of us has problems with something, then we all do. And it's a big deal now that it involves Reyna, because I like Reyna and I think she'll be quite good at making a dent in that tiny little snowball you call a heart."

Thalia cracks a smile.

"Okay? We will do this together. Won't we, Nico?"

"Absolutely!" Nico cheers. "And if worst comes to worst, we'll just record our own stuff! Apollo's been teaching me stuff about producing, and we've got enough fans who will buy our stuff without any, like, radio promotion, to guarantee that we'll be fine. We've soundproofed the kitchen cupboard under the sink, right? If we curl up really tightly we can all cram in there, I reckon, and we can record stuff there. It might be difficult to get the drums in, but we can learn."

"Thank you," Thalia says softly.

Percy stands up and wraps her in a hug. "My pleasure, sis."

Thalia hugs him back. She doesn't hug them often, not unless they all have to cram in the same bed and Percy aggressively cuddles her to the point where cuddling back is necessary in order for her spine not to snap in half and her arms to have room, so Percy savours it. After a few moments, he hears Nico get up from the sofa and wriggle in. They stand there in contented silence for a while.

"One day we'll find a good manager," Nico says. "One who isn't a scheming dirtbag or a mildly-homophobic health freak."

"One day," Percy says wistfully. "We really do have a crap track record with managers, don't we?"

"Just you wait," Thalia says. "Next they'll be coming for you and Will."

"I'd jolly well like to see them try," Nico says. "But that's not the point. We'll go talk to Priapus today and if he keeps on insisting on being a jackass then they'll leave him in the dirt and find someone else."

"Yeah," Percy says. "Maybe not someone you found on Craigslist."

Nico pouts. "It sounded like a good idea!"

"Anything involving the use of Craigslist is not a good idea," Thalia says. She shakes her hands out. "Okay, I need to have a stress shower. Percy, I expect there to be cookies in the oven by the time I'm out."

He gapes at her. "Wait, what? Why?"

"Do you realise how many cookies I had to make for you when you and Annabeth were split up? It'll be nothing to just return the favour."

"But– but I was heartbroken and wallowing in sorrow!"

"And so am I, I can't date my girlfriend."

Nico points a carrot stick at him. "She's not wrong."

"I hate you both." Percy scowls at them. "Fine, go, have your shower. I'll just– make cookies, then."

"Good boy," Thalia says, patting him on the shoulder.

* * *

 **Woodbury, Minnesota**

Rosie opens her laptop as soon as she gets home. Annabeth Chase had been hinting at a new video with _a very special guest_ – and Rosie's not dumb, okay, obviously that means her boyfriend – and she said that it was going to be released today. Rosie had been periodically checking YouTube throughout Geography. It had gone up at precisely three minutes past one and she'd been dying to watch it ever since she saw it appear.

Eagerly, she clicks on YouTube, and Annabeth's new video is the first one to appear in her recommended. It's called Best Friend Vs Boyfriend, and the thumbnail is a picture of Annabeth, Piper and Percy fricking Jackson with all their faces smushed together, laughing hysterically. Rosie doesn't think she's ever clicked on a video so fast.

Immediately, Annabeth's face fills the screen. On either side of her is Piper and Percy. They're sitting in what appears to be Annabeth's living room, on the floor, and they're all beaming, Percy looking off to one side. They all look so affectionate and happy, fresh-faced and grinning. Piper's hair is pulled out of her head with a lopsided banana clip and Annabeth is wearing her hair in a frumpy ponytail.

Rosie has been waiting for this for what feels like forever. She can't wait.

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth says cheerfully. "Today, we are doing something quite exciting, and also a little different. And by different I mean we have Piper and someone who is not one of my babies."

"But I am one of your babies," Percy says, with a lewd wink.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Give it up for my boyfriend, Percy."

There's a few claps from offscreen, and they all look both look to the left and grin at whoever's clapping. "Thank you, thank you," Percy says. "I know, I'm excellent."

"I was only clapping to spare you the embarrassment of no one doing it," says a voice dryly. _Thalia_.

Rosie's grin almost breaks her face. She was only expecting Percy. She was _not_ expecting Thalia Grace.

Holy crap, this is almost every dream she's ever had come true.

"Stop raining on my parade," Percy says.

"Yes, stop being negative," Piper says. "He needs as much ego-boosting as he can, so it hurts less when I whomp his ass."

"Oh, bring it, McLean."

"Anyway!" Annabeth interrupts. She beams at the camera. "As you can probably tell from the title, we are playing a fun little game also known as Best Friend Vs Boyfriend. So I brought in two specimens of both categories." She holds out her hands. "Here we have Specimen Best Friend, and here we have Specimen Boyfriend." She pats their faces awkwardly. "Introduce yourselves."

Percy looks a little awkward at having to directly address the camera. He wavers a little, and then says to Annabeth, "It – _is_ the lens I'm looking into, right? Not the viewfinder?"

"Yes, the lens. No, don't touch it, you'll smudge–"

There's a jumpcut, and then Piper looks like she's suppressing a smile, and Percy speaks slightly breathlessly, like he's just been laughing. "Hello, I am Percy," Percy says, slightly monotonously. "I am playing the role of Annabeth's boyfriend today."

"You could have said it with a little more enthusiasm," Piper tells him.

"If you make him say that line one more time I will claw my own ears off," Thalia says, off-screen. "He's already said it 'wrong' about eight times."

Percy pouts. "Stop _bullying_ me!"

"You did it fine," Annabeth says. "Stop tormenting my boyfriend. Now, Best Friend. Introduce yourself."

"Gladly," Piper says. "I am Piper, the more attractive, more talented, and more loving associate of one Annabeth Chase. But you all know who I am anyway. I've corrupted this channel probably more times than I have my own channel." She winks, and then stage-whispers to Percy, "That's how the pros do it."

Percy swats at her. Annabeth laughs.

"All right," she says. "Now that we've all been introduced and any and all hatred towards each other has been released and turned instead into friendly competitiveness, we shall begin with the game." She beams at the camera. "Okay, so it's going to work like this. Piper and Percy both have whiteboards" – Piper holds hers up into frame, and, a second late, Percy does too – "and I have the lovely Hazel behind the camera, with a list of questions about yours truly. She's going to ask the question, and then both Percy and Piper are going to write down the answer, and we'll compare answers, and they'll all get points depending on who gets the right answer. Capeesh?"

"Yes, sir," Percy says, and Piper salutes.

Annabeth looks entirely too pleased with herself. "Excellent. Hazel? First question?"

"Question one," says a voice behind the camera. "And the easiest, I do have to say. What are Annabeth's parents called?"

"Oh, _easy_ ," Piper says, already scribbling down her answer.

Percy looks panicked. "Yeah, totally. So easy."

"You sound distressed, Percy," Annabeth says.

"What gave it away? The sheer panic in my voice, or the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing?"

"You've met them," Annabeth says.

"I know," Percy says. "I just– I'm blanking."

"Ha!" Piper says. She hugs her whiteboard close to her chest. "I'm going to own this."

"Do I get bonus points for knowing the name of your first pet?" Percy says. "Because I know that."

"How do you know the name of her first pet but not her parents?" Thalia asks.

"My memory is very selective, okay."

"You don't get points," Hazel says, from behind the camera. "The question asks for her parents' names."

"Damn," he says. "Well." He scribbles something down. "Let's just pray this is right."

"It's probably not," Piper says. "You may as well give me the points now, Hazel."

"Percy?" Hazel asks. "Are you done?"

Percy caps his pen uncertainly. "I mean, I guess."

"Hold up your boards," Annabeth says.

Percy and Piper both holds up their boards. Piper's says FREDERICK AND ATHENA CHASE. Percy's says FRED AND MARY CHASE.

Thalia laughs so hard Rosie is worried she may have ripped a vocal cord.

Annabeth looks like she's struggling not to laugh. "Mary?"

"I was kind of close," Percy admits.

"But I was closer," Piper says, pointing at him. "So close, in fact, I scored that point fair and square. Suck on that, Jackson."

Percy frowns. "I will destroy you."

"How about we don't destroy each other," Annabeth says. "I love you both and you also both love each other. Friendly competition, like I said. Besides, we still have a great deal of questions left to get through. Speaking of – Hazel?"

"Right," Hazel says. "Next question. What age did Annabeth have her first kiss?"

"Okay, I know this," Percy says, already scribbling.

Piper looks up. "What happens if we both get it right?"

"You know what age she had her first kiss?" Thalia asks.

"Well, of course I do, I'm her best friend. When you live together things do get shared."

"Yeah, Thalia," Percy says, without looking up from his whiteboard. "I'm not sure if you realised, because I'm pretty sure all moments like the one I'm just about to describe to you have all been fuelled by inhaling too much nail polish and the fact that we were all slightly delirious on sleep deprivation, but you've shared a great deal many things with me. I know what age you had your first kiss. I also know that–"

"Have we all written down an answer?" Annabeth interrupts quickly.

Percy and Piper both nod.

"All right, show your boards."

They both hold them up. Piper's simply says 15. Percy's has so much writing on it Rosie isn't sure she can make out what it all says.

"Holy crap, Jackson," Piper says. "She asked for an age, not an essay. I vote he gets disqualified."

Annabeth grabs Percy's board. "How do you even know this much?"

Percy preens. "It's called being a good boyfriend."

"You even gave an exact time," Annabeth says in astonishment. "Like, the actual time. To the minute."

Piper gawps at him. "How do you know this?"

"Maybe I just know Annabeth better than you," Percy says.

Piper flounders. "I–I _refuse_ to accept that!"

"This is bordering from good boyfriendship to stalker," Thalia says. "May I just say."

"I think it's actually quite sweet," Annabeth says. "I'm– flattered that you remember so much about this."

"I feel like Percy should be slightly offended at that prospect," Thalia says. "I mean, obviously that kiss was so important to you that you remembered every detail enough to relay it to Percy almost six years after it happened."

"You're uninvited to the wedding," Percy says. "Do I get bonus points for all the details?"

"I must have been really drunk to tell you all of this," Annabeth muses, as she reads over. "Wow, you've even described how well he kissed."

"I'm slightly insulted that you haven't shared this with me," Piper says.

"Oh, I probably have," Annabeth says absently, still reading. "I mean, I've been far drunker with you then I have with Percy, and if I told him all of this then you probably got stuff like the texture of his mouth and stuff. Hey, you even got the town, Percy, I'm impressed."

"I just remembered it all," Percy says, with a smirk. "Because I'm the better associate."

"I will smack you, Jackson."

The rest of the video continues exactly like that. Piper ends up winning by one point, and she appears simply ecstatic, darting out of frame and gathering high-fives from the two other people in the room. Percy pouts about losing, and Annabeth laughs at him and then kisses him so firmly that Rosie's breath almost gets lost in her chest.

She watches the video three more times.

* * *

Percy starts making regular occurrences in Annabeth's videos.

The annoying thing is, is that Annabeth never really mentions it. She doesn't use flashy clickbait or promising thumbnails to tell Rosie whenever Percy shows up. He just– does. It's like he's as regular as Piper or something, and not an international rockstar (no offence, Piper). Rosie has to start watching Annabeth's vlogs regularly, because he could be in any of them.

Thalia and Nico also make several appearances as well. Rosie's favourite has to be the clip of all of all five of them taken during a Monopoly game. It had apparently just gone two am, and Thalia was threatening them all with board domination and Piper was being a sore loser and Percy kept trying to sneakily steal from the bank, and Nico was wearing a pink sparkly boa and had a guitar, and he had to sing and play whenever he wanted to talk.

"It was a dare," Annabeth confessed to the camera.

Piper lets out a particularly fantastic belch. "We're not drunk at all!" she shouts, and Thalia cheers, and Nico cheers as well except in the tune of Teenage Dream.

Rosie isn't sure what she was expecting when Annabeth started dating, especially when Annabeth started dating Percy Jackson, but it was certainly not such _normalcy_. They act like a married couple. In one of Piper's vlogs, she had walked into the living room to see them sitting on the sofa, Percy's legs on Annabeth's lap and his fingers absently twirling one of her curls, and Annabeth has her laptop balanced on his calves and is doing a grocery order. Sometimes during Annabeth's livestreams Percy will walk past and kiss the top of her head, and sometimes even in Annabeth's videos, where she's talking about her cats, Percy's legs will appear in the background and Annabeth will look up to where he's standing, out of the frame, and ask for a cup of tea, and it's just so domestic Rosie almost wants to weep every time he appears.

They're just so _goofy_. They post dumb things on Instagram about each other (Rosie's favourite were the Valentine's Day ones, where Percy had posted an aesthetic black and white picture of them standing underneath an arch holding hands with a long-winded caption about how much he loved her, and then Annabeth had posted the ugliest selfie of the two of them together possibly in the whole world with a simple _ur gross but I love u anyway_ , and Percy had simply commented the upside-down smiley face emoji) and they respond to each other on Twitter ( **codenamewisegirl** : I swear I just saw the largest rat of my entire life on the subway this morning I nearly had a heart attack / **percyjackson** : omg I didn't know you saw nico today / **codenamewisegirl** : shut UP I hate you) and they're just so disgustingly in love it takes everything in Rosie not to make any audible noises. They're so beautiful together.

Rosie definitely had not seen them coming. They're almost on polar ends of the spectrum, but now that they're together she couldn't picture them with anyone else.

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth chirps. "So, today, we are going to do something quite cool. Also Piper's here, by the way."

Piper waves.

"I'm also here," Percy sings as he slides into frame, pressing a kiss to Annabeth's cheek and snatching the bag of gummy worms from out her hands.

Percy sighs. "Do you _ever_ go home?"

"Quite frequently, I think you must just miss me so much whenever I'm not around you conjure up a Percy apparition to fill the dark, gaping space in your soul that forms because of my absence." He pops a worm in his mouth, and turns to Annabeth. "Where'd you put the scissors?"

"Upstairs, on my shelf. And give those back, we need them. We're doing baking."

"Sounds delicious. Can I help?"

"Get a job," Piper says.

"You get a job. Wil you save me a brownie?"

"No," Piper says, at the same time as Annabeth says, "Of course I will. Now, kindly buzz off, we're in the middle of filming."

"Cool." Percy takes another gummy worm, and winks at the audience. "That was for all the ladies."

"You're so gross," Annabeth says fondly, as he sails back out of frame.

"He's also so taken," Piper says. "Annabeth, how will you let this blatant display of adultery go unpunished?"

"You're one to speak. I heard you having a Skype date with Hazel. I thought Skype dates were our thing. Piper, how could you _do_ this to me?"

* * *

 **Los Angeles, California**

"I honestly think we should go with Maybe," Nico says. "It sets the tone of the album off pretty well."

"But we need hits," says Artemis, their newest manager. She's Apollo's twin sister and Percy isn't yet sure if that's a good or bad thing. "If you're talking about chart-toppers you're going to have to go with something like Love Letters. You want to make a statement. Then you can introduce everything else."

"I personally think Grey is a good choice," says Apollo.

Artemis glares at him. "Well, you also thought wearing purple pants with green socks was a good choice, and that I wouldn't notice the stain on your shirt, so excuse me if I think your opinion is a little jaded."

Thalia whistles lowly. " _Sick_."

"Maybe is still a good choice," Nico says. "We can't discard it yet."

"I say," Artemis says, "we release Love Letters first. Then we do something a little more upbeat – maybe something fun, like Say What You Want. Then, on the brink of the album release, we release a song like Maybe. If you want this album to sell you're going to have to put the best, catchiest song out first, with the best hooks, that'll get people moving. It'll catch people's attention. Then you can start showing them the aspects of the album."

"I still think we go with Grey," Apollo says.

"Shut up, Apollo."

Percy suppresses a smile.

Nico turns to him, and then he has to quickly wipe the snigger off his face. "Hm?" he says.

"What do you think?" Nico asks. "Should we do Love Letters as lead single?"

His face is dubious.

"Not really," Percy says honestly. "We need to kind of give a song that shows the fans what the album is about, right? And Love Letters is fun, sure, but it doesn't represent the album. This alum is about – growth, you know? We need something that encapsulates that."

"Big words," Thalia says. "I'm rather impressed."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Artemis asks.

Apollo throws up his hands. "Oh, so when Percy suggests something slower it's okay, but when I do it I'm 'jaded'?"

"I refuse to listen to anything you have to say until you take off those godawful trousers."

Apollo frowns down at them. "But– I like these ones."

"Percy?" Nico prods.

Percy thinks, and looks down at the tracklist in his hands. He didn't think choosing a lead single would be this hard. And maybe Artemis has a point. Love Letters is definitely one of their sonically more stronger songs, and it would do something in the charts – whether or not it would top them is a different matter entirely, but it would definitely do something for them. But Love Letters doesn't represent what the album is, and ever since the release of their first crappy EP, self-recorded in the quiet of their dorm rooms, Percy has been adamant that the lead single can't be the lead single if all it does it try and chart. It needs to show what the album _is_.

"I think," he says, "we try What If."

Thalia raises er eyebrows. "The super emo one?"

"It's not super emo, it's– hopeful."

"Hopeful my ass," she says. "It's like drowning in teenage angst."

But Artemis is nodding. "That's not a bad idea, Percy."

"Maybe still needs to be a single," Nico cuts in hurriedly.

"Of course. If we take it in a direction like What If, we could have Maybe as a second single, and then we could have something like Say What You Want, or Love Letters, as the third. It would really boost up the album." She hesitates. "But – it may not chart, Percy."

"I know," he says. "I didn't write it to top charts. This song is personal to me, and I think it represents the album in its entirety."

Apollo huffs. "I still think Grey does that quite well."

"Apollo, please leave the room," Artemis says. "You can come back in three minutes."

Apollo scowls at her, and sulkily leaves. It's almost funny, seeing the two of them interact. Apollo is normally nothing but a serious, hard worker. Having his sister here is bringing out a child-like petulance to him that Percy often has about himself with Thalia and Nico.

"Good," Artemis says. "Now that he's gone, we can have a proper conversation. So? Percy? Are you sure that you want to go with What If?"

Percy nods. "I'm sure."

Artemis looks at Thalia and Nico. "You guys okay with this?"

They both nod. "You're our bro," Nico says. "And that means standing with you and listening to all your angsty emo songs."

Percy sighs. "It's not–"

"It's emo, Percy," Thalia says. "Very, very emo. So emo I feel my old heartstrings of a life left behind tug a little whenever I hear it."

"You're so full of crap."

"Once an emo, always an emo."

Artemis. "So it's decided. What If is our lead single."

Percy nods. "Good."

Later, when everyone has gone home, and Percy is figuring out how to play an acoustic version of it in the studio by himself, he decides to text Annabeth.

 **Percy** : [what_if_mp3]

 **Percy** : this is a song I wrote about you in the healing process of our break up, when I wasn't over you but I was trying to be. I don't think I've ever been so proud of a song before. this is about a life and a heartache I've left behind in the past but has taught me lots of valuable lessons about loving and losing and deciding to let go. I love you. xx

* * *

 **A/N hello all!**

 **how are we all? i hope we're all simply splendid because i sure am! i just finished watching all of glee today so im a little nostalgic but having said that i feel simply delightful! i finished all my exams this week which was nice and also i don't think they sucked? which is marvellous**

 **anyway! thank you all ever so much for your wonderful wonderful reviews last chapter, you guys mean SO much to me. i'm glad you all liked theyna hehe because i sure did (also reviewer who mentioned something about percy being the only straight one in the band i want you to know i laughed at your review forever)**

 **but this story is nearly at an end how sad! i think maybe only one or two more chapters, one of which will be an epilogue with a good old time skip because who doesn't love time skips. i just want you all to know that i simply adore you all to the end of the world and back and you're just fabulous and excellent and ahhh i love you all dearly**

 **anyway sorry had to get that out**

 **i hope you enjoyed this chapter in any respect! thank you so much for all your reviews (WERE ALMOST AT 700 CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS) and i shall see you all next saturday! love you xx**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

* * *

"Oh, you and I  
Safe from the world  
Though the world will try"

– Intertwined, dodie

* * *

It's 6:30 in the morning and despite the fact Percy was up until approximately 3am the night before working out an acoustic arrangement of What If on the piano, because when you're a celebrity with early mornings and also probably the need for the ability to be sensible about how much you sleep what even is time, he feels _remarkably chipper._

It might have something to do with the four green teas he inhaled in the car ride over but he's not massively sure. All he does know is that whatever it is it's also managed to give him the vocabulary and brain-to-mouth speed for him to be able to form ridiculous run-on sentences.

("God save the Queen," Thalia mutters, "and also my ears."

"We're never giving you green tea ever again," Nico agrees.)

They arrive at the studio half an hour before their interview is supposed to air. Artemis walks ahead of them as they all amble in, holding about her person an air of grace and importance that makes everyone respect her, even the receptionist. Percy's forgotten what it was like to be in the presence of someone like that. Sure, Mr D had importance, because he had status, but he was also half-drunk most of the time and smelt like sour cologne and wine, so until he flashed his ID and told them he was Dionysus Whyne of Olympus Records everyone kind of treated him like a homeless man. Just from looking at Artemis you can tell she's important.

Percy thinks she's going to stick around for a while. He hopes so, anyway. She's a pretty kickass manager.

Artemis talks to the receptionist for a bit, before they're all being herded into the studio. Most of the people there are just ordinary interns, in black T-shirts, with headsets and clipboards, but there's a man with extraordinarily well-groomed facial hair and bright blue eyes sitting in a chair, getting his makeup done by a girl with pink hair.

"Demigods!" he cheers, when they all walk in. "How wonderful to see you!"

He makes it a point to shake all of their hands and look them in the eyes as he speaks. Percy automatically likes him.

"It's an honour," he says.

"Thank you so much," Thalia says. "I love what you've got going on here."

"That means a lot," the man says earnestly. "Now, if you would head over there, we've got our makeup team ready to give you some touch-ups, and then, at seven thirty, we'll start the interview. Capeesh?"

"Capeesh," Thalia says, at the same time as Nico whispers to Percy, "what does that even mean?"

They get herded into a small dressing room off the side of the studio. With the three of them plus the half a dozen stylists they have, it's a little cramped, but everyone seems to be moving fine, so Percy just ignores it, and stares at his phone while someone brushes foundation onto his face.

He takes a selfie of it and sends it to Annabeth.

 **Percy:** what do you think have they made me beautiful

 **Annabeth:** you're wearing even more makeup then i am

 **Annabeth:** and it's the wrong shade

"Uh, excuse me?" he says to the girl doing his makeup. She stops and gives him a questioning look. "Is this foundation the right colour?"

The girl frowns. "I, uh, should think so, sir."

"I don't think it is," Percy tells her. "My girlfriend said it's not."

Across the room, Nico drops his head into his hands.

"Oh," the girl says. "Well, I can try and find a more– suitable shade, if you want?"

"Yes, please," Percy says, and she rushes off.

 **Percy:** im making them change it

 **Annabeth:** you did not

 **Annabeth:** it's not even that bad you just look more orange than normal

 **Percy:** anything for u babe

"That was quite unnecessary," Nico says.

"I don't think so," Percy says. "My girlfriend said so."

" _Your girlfriend_ has a name," Thalia quips dryly.

"So does yours," Percy counters pathetically.

Thalia quirks an eyebrow. "Yes, I'm aware of that, believe it or not."

"He just likes the idea of saying _my girlfriend,_ " Nico says. "Leave him be."

"That's not it," Percy says, trying to hide a blush. He's kind of right, but whatever. "I just– forgot her name."

"Never go into acting," Thalia says, closing her eyes as her makeup girl brushes foundation on her eyelids. "You're absolutely rubbish."

The girl comes back holding a box of different shades of foundation, looking a little afraid. "These are all the shades in your skin tone range we have," she says. "Do you– want to pick one?"

"I'll just send a picture to my girlfriend," Percy says. As he takes out his phone, he hears Thalia ask her own makeup girl if she can throw a makeup brush at him, to which she politely declines. He snaps a picture, and then texts it to Annabeth. He gives the girl a big grin. "She's used to being on camera," he adds, just in case she needed clarification. "She knows what shade to do, because she's incredible like that."

"Please throw the brush at him," Thalia begs. "Please."

"I can't, miss, it would be violating the code of conduct."

"Leave him alone, Thalia," Nico chides. "He's just excited."

"They've been bloody dating almost two years, give or take the six-month breakup. He's had more than enough time to get used to having a girlfriend."

 **Annabeth** : omg

 **Annabeth** : please apologise to your makeup girl

"My girlfriend says she's sorry," Percy says to the makeup girl.

The makeup girl still looks petrified, but she furrows her eyebrows. "For what?"

 **Percy** : for what

 **Annabeth** : having the world's most difficult boyfriend

Percy sniffs. "Nothing," he says.

 **Percy** : what shade works

 **Annabeth** : send me a selfie of you right now

 **Annabeth** : you're in good lighting right

 **Percy** : yh they have these natural light lamps everywhere

 **Annabeth** : cool

 **Percy** : [picture42]

 **Annabeth** : the forth on the third row

 **Annabeth** : tawny peach

"My girlfriend says to go with tawny peach," Percy tells the makeup girl.

The girl smiles. "Okay."

"We should make this a drinking game," Thalia says, to no one in particular. "Take a shot every time Percy says 'my girlfriend'."

"We'll all be hammered by the time we need to go for the interview," Nico says.

They're too far away to high-five, so they air-fistbump, and it's frankly the saddest thing Percy's ever seen, so he tells them just as much.

"You have no space to talk," Thalia says. "I don't even think you've said Annabeth's name once today, and yet you've already brought her up thirty-six times."

"And that's a fact," Nico adds. "She's been counting."

"I just like knowing she's my girlfriend," Percy says. "So what?"

"Your honeymoon stage was meant to end about a year and a half ago," Thalia says. "I mean, _I_ just obtained a girlfriend, and do you see me all mooney-eyed?"

"I mean, no," Percy says, "but you also just said the phrase 'obtained a girlfriend', so now I'm back to believing you don't actually have any feelings."

Thalia rolls her eyes.

A stagehand pops her head around the door. "Are you ready?"

Nico gives her a thumbs-up. "You bet!"

The interview is quite a casual thing, which is nice. Firstly, it's a radio interview, that will later have visuals to go with the voices when the radio show put it up on their YouTube channel, meaning if they look particularly hideous, at least there's an opportunity for it to be edited out. Furthermore, the cameras are only filming above the waist, so they're all sat on beanbags.

Percy's not even kidding. Even the host is on a bean-bag, in sweatpants, under his impeccable suit jacket. The wallpaper behind them, a picture of the radio station logo, with a picture of three people Percy doesn't recognise in front of it, even starts about a metre into the logo, to make it look like they're all sat higher than they are.

Percy loves it already.

For the most part, the interview goes pretty smoothly. There is one hiccup when the host, seemingly oblivious, asks about Mr D, and they all freeze, with varying forms of shock and badly-concealed distaste on their faces, but he quickly changes tact when he notes it's a bit of a sore spot, and from there everything goes swimmingly.

He asks them about the album and the song-writing process and what they're most excited about, and asks about the upcoming singles, what they're most proud of, the tour, and he nods and smiles in all the right places in a way that's so genuine Percy doesn't even care that he probably doesn't give two hoots about whatever they're saying.

Then the conversation moves to relationships.

"So, I take that all of you are off the market?" the man says, with a playful smile.

Thalia nods. "We are indeed."

"It's honestly the best," Nico butts in. "We go on triple dates all the time."

Percy leans into the microphone. "We've never been on a triple date, to clarify."

"We went on a double date and a half and Thalia's girlfriend was waitressing at the time, if you add that up it's a triple date."

The man laughs. "Sounds like you're all very happy."

"Oh, we are," Percy says, and he means it, because it's true, they've all never been so collectively happy before. He feels like the rush of euphoria he's felt over the past few months are enough to tide him over until he's at least thirty. "It's been really, really good. An emotional rollercoaster, yeah, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."

The man smiles genuinely at him, and then turns to Nico and Thalia. "Well, we're very pleased to hear that. Can we ask how you two met your current partners?"

"Hey, what about me?" Percy asks, half as a joke.

"Please, Percy," Thalia says. "There have been enough tabloids of you and Annabeth that I could literally wallpaper our entire living room with all of them without ever having to double-print."

Percy pouts, because she's kind of right.

Nico beams at the man. "Well, _I_ met my boyfriend at one of our photoshoots," he says. "He was in charge and was very bossy and I just looked at him and knew that he was the love of my life."

"They then made out in a dressing room for about half an hour," Thalia interjects.

Nico goes vermillion. "Oh my God, Thalia!" He quickly leans into the microphone. "That's wrong, that didn't happen."

"Oh, yes it did," Thalia says.

"Thalia met her girlfriend at our double date and a half all thanks to us because we're the best wingmen in the world and she was disgustingly single," Nico says.

"Hey!"

"That's not even the worst part. I could say all the other stuff."

"Well, you just ruined my meet-cute, so thanks."

"You could tell them about your first date," Percy says. "First kiss, maybe. First hand-hold. I don't know."

"I'm not saying that on live radio," Thalia says. "Unlike you and Annabeth and your disgustingly voyeuristic ways I want some things to remain private."

Nico cackles.

"Touché," Percy says, over Nico's boisterous laughter. "Touché."

* * *

Annabeth comes to visit late that afternoon.

Thalia is out with Reyna and Nico is quiet in his room, only the faint sound of a guitar, so they have the place to themselves. It's not as if they really do anything that scandalous – as soon as Annabeth arrives, they make themselves some tea, and then collapse on the sofa, with a movie, only half-paying attention. They talk in soft voices over the top of it, progressively getting closer and closer, until by the time the credits roll around they're tightly pressed against each other, like sardines.

"This is nice," Percy says.

Annabeth snorts. "What, us cuddling?"

"Well, yeah," he says. "And everything. The movie. The tea. You. Me. It's all nice."

Annabeth just hums. Then she sits up and digs her phone out of her pocket. "Hold on."

"What are you doing?" Percy asks.

She leaves her phone on the coffee table and then curls up back next to him. He opens his mouth to speak, when the unmistakeable sound of a soft acoustic guitar comes from the speaker of her phone.

He knows that song. Of course he does. He wrote it.

He looks down at Annabeth, who's got her eyes closed and her head pillowed on his chest. She's not asleep, he can tell by the stiffness in her limbs and the fact that underneath her eyelids her eyes are moving around, but she's relaxed, and content, just next to him, with his song playing in the background.

"I take it you liked it, then," he says, trying to

Annabeth hums. "Shh. I'm listening."

"I'm going to take a gander and assume that this isn't the first time you've listened. I can talk as much as I want."

"Not over this song. Just– be quiet, please. Just until this song ends. And after my inevitable sappy monologue that I can assure you will follow."

"Are you going to cry?"

"Be quiet, Percy."

Obediently, Percy shuts up.

He's never really considered himself a narcissist. Whenever he listens to one of their songs, he either feels a sense of pride, nostalgia, or thinks to himself how he can improve it, how to change it up so when they play it on tour it'll be as fresh as the newer songs. But he can, and he will, confidently say, that What If was, is, the best song he's ever written in his life. He had recorded it right here, on the sofa. He was sat on the floor, the microphone balanced where Annabeth's phone now is, and Nico had his keyboard out on the floor, and Thalia with her bass, and that was it. You can hear the white noise in the background, the soft sound of eleven pm LA traffic, the shift of Percy's fingers on the fretboard, the creak of the floorboards as Thalia shifts near the bridge, the gentle hum of their breaths. There are no special effects, just Percy's voice, and his guitar, and Nico's keyboard, and Thalia's bass, and Percy almost loses himself in it.

This song means so, so much to him. Normally he'd be almost bashful releasing a song this personal as a lead single, but he's not, because of this, because Annabeth got to hear it first, and now they're sitting on the sofa, so tightly pressed together you can't see where one ends and the other begins, listening to it, to Percy's pain, and his hope, and the fleeting memories of them before everything fell apart, and then the flicker when they began to have a chance again.

Percy thinks it's beautiful, and he's so honoured Annabeth does, too.

The song ends as quietly as it begins, and Percy feels a breath leave the room. It starts again – on loop – but they don't pay attention it, just the feeling of home, the intimacy of sharing something so personal to the person you love. Annabeth is soft and sleep-warm in his arms and her hair is soft and smells of lemons, and somewhere outside an ambulance rushes past and the flashing lights of the siren cast long, dancing shadows of the two of them against the wall. Percy watches it. They look like they're joined together.

He looks down at Annabeth. Her grey eyes have opened, and she's staring listlessly at nothing, but there's a tear running down her cheek.

"I was kidding about the crying thing," he says, his voice barely a whisper in the silence. In the background, his voice croons the chorus.

Annabeth blinks when he speaks, and comes out of whatever reverie she was in, her eyes clearing. She huffs out a laugh, bringing the sleeve of her shirt up to her eyes. "You should have seen me last night. Piper had to come cuddle me for the whole night."

"Was it that bad?"

Annabeth gently elbows him in the stomach. "You know why."

He smiles at her fondly. "Yeah. I do."

"That– Percy." Annabeth turns to properly face him, swinging her leg over his lap, and cups his face in her hands. Their noses are almost touching, and her grey eyes are wide and earnest, and also still slightly wet. "That was your best song ever. I–I don't even know what to say. It was beautiful, and I love you so much."

"I love you t–"

"No, shh, I haven't finished the monologue yet," she says. She sniffs, wetly, and then lets out a laugh. "When– when you sent me that song, I sat by myself in my bedroom, and I listened to it for about– God, I don't know, two hours? Piper came home and I was just– crying. I think she thought you had cheated again. She threatened to castrate you several times. I fell asleep listening to it. I just– it's so _beautiful,_ Percy _._

"I don't think you know quite how much you mean to me, you know? I love you. I love you to the end of this earth, until the end of time, and I don't want to ever be without you ever again. We could live one hundred lifetimes and I'd still love you. This song – this was just further reason. Because you are so _beautiful,_ and your heart is so _wonderful_ , and I am so honoured that I'm the one who gets to have it."

She smiles at him weakly, but her eyes are glittering with a sort of determined _fire,_ that makes Percy's heart soar. "We've both been through hell, and we made it out on the other side. We're still here, and we're still together, and if we can survive that then I know we can survive anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Well," Percy says. "I'm kind of glad you said that."

He produces a box from his pocket.

Annabeth's eyes widen. "If that's an engagement ring my answer's yes," she says immediately.

Percy laughs, but his heart is pounding. "It's not an engagement ring. It's, uh. More of a promise ring."

Annabeth tilts her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you'd let me talk, then I can explain."

Annabeth pushes at his chest. "If you keep being mean I won't accept the ring. Including whatever it stands for."

"What happened to 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you'?"

"You said it wasn't an engagement ring."

"It's not." Percy hands the box to her, who gingerly balances it in her hand like it might explode. "Like I said, it's a promise ring."

"For what?"

"It's my promise to you that one day it _will_ be an engagement ring in that box," he says, and Annabeth looks up from the box in his hand to meet to his eyes. "It's my promise that no matter what happens, I will always love you, and that you are the most important person in my life right now, and you'll be the most important person in my life twenty years from now."

Annabeth's eyes are wide and searching. He takes both her hands, feeling the raise of her knuckles as her left hand closes around the box in a fist. "Look," he says. "I'm not going to pretend that I know what's going to happen to us, because I _don't,_ I _don't know that._ And maybe I'm wrong, and maybe twenty years down the line we're no longer together. But something tells me that's not going to happen. You're it for me, Beth. That ring is a promise that one day I will to get married to you, and that we'll be together for the rest of our lives. We know first-hand how treacherous the media is, and this isn't going to be the last time it gets in between us. But I promise that it'll be the last time we let it hurt us like this. And whenever you doubt that, you just– look down at this ring, and know that I love you, and I'll stick with you, through whatever the world decides to throw at us next."

Annabeth looks back down at the box clutched in her fist. Slowly, she uncurls her hand, and flicks it open.

The ring sits there, plain, and beautiful. Thalia had helped Percy pick it out, as well as the lady at the till. It was the third ring shop they'd visited ("if you tell me one more time that none of these are 'right', I will actually cut you open," Thalia had threatened. "I know she's the love of your life, but it's literally only a promise ring. God help me when it comes to picking out engagement rings.") and it had been sitting in the back, only one amongst the several rows. Percy had taken one look at it, at its simple gold band, and known that this was it.

"Percy," Annabeth says, her voice in awe. "This is– this is _beautiful_."

"Thanks," Percy says, slightly sheepish. "Thalia helped."

"What finger does it go on?"

"That's– a great question." Percy examines it, and then looks at her hand. "Uh, which one does it fit on?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, you could potentially _try_ it on, to see."

"I may just wear it as a necklace." Annabeth looks at it, resting in her palm. "It's awfully pretty."

"The speech wasn't too cheesy, was it?"

"No, it was perfect. Not any sappier than mine, anyway."

"Yeah, I know. Was about to say. 'I could live a thousand lifetimes and still love you', or whatever? Where did _that_ come from?"

Annabeth's cheeks flush pink. "It felt like an appropriate thing to say in the heat of the moment."

"It sounded like it came out a Nicholas Sparks novel."

"I meant it, you know."

Now Percy's the one blushing. "Wait, really?"

"Of course. You think it's just something I just blurted? You're it for me too, Percy. End game, and whatever."

Yeah, Percy's definitely blushing. "Yeah," he squeaks.

"I have a theory," Annabeth says. "About us."

"What, that we're destined to be together forever?"

"Aside from that." Annabeth turns the rings in her fingers. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"Isn't that where when you die and then get reborn as someone else?" Percy says.

"Kind of."

"Oh." He thinks about it. "I mean. Maybe. I don't know. Do you?"

"I think as an idea, kind of." She arranges herself. "I've taken a fancy to the idea that in previous lives we were soulmates."

"Annabeth Chase, you _rascal,_ how romantic."

"Think about how cool it would be, though. Like. A hundred years ago we may have been Romeo and Juliet. You don't know that."

"Romeo and Juliet both ended up dying."

"More time for romance in our next lives! How exciting of a prospect is that!"

"You're so lame."

"You were the one who just gave me a promise ring," Annabeth says. "That's even lamer."

"Then what, believing we were soulmates in another life?"

"You wrote me a song."

Percy groans. "That doesn't count. That song was genuinely cute. And it was a career move."

Annabeth arches an eyebrow. "Oh, is that all I am to you? A _career move_? Percy, how could you?"

Percy digs his fingers around her waist, and she squawks.

"Don't _tickle_ me!"

"I'll do whatever I want to you."

"I could argue this counts as a sappy move. Troy tickled Gabriella in High School Musical."

Percy can't contain himself. He wraps his arms around Annabeth and brings her even closer, so she's bracing herself against his chest. He happily nuzzles his nose into her neck. "Oh my God, you _nerd,_ I love you so much, you're so lame."

Annabeth scrabbles away from him, but she's beaming, and when Percy cups the back of her neck and pulls her in for a kiss she happily complies, melting entirely against him and smiling languidly. "Okay," she gasps, as they pull away. "We're both sappy and gross, we've agreed."

"You're still worse than me."

"You kissed me to shut me up. That's one of the biggest clichés ever created. Added onto everything else you've done tonight I think I can argue that you're worse than me."

In the small space between them, she opens her hand, and the ring is still lying on her hand. She reaches up behind her to unclasp her necklace from around her neck – it's a simple thin metal chain with a bird pendant hanging on the end of it, and then threads the ring around it. Percy stares at it as she clips it back around her neck.

One day that's going to be an engagement ring. The thought fills him with such happiness he can't help himself when he kisses her again.

"I love you so much," he gasps, in between kisses.

"I know," Annabeth says, giggling. "Now show me you mean it."

Cheekily, he grins at her. "I thought the song was enough."

She exhales through her nose. "Do you _want_ me to get up and leave?"

"No, stay." He links their fingers together and nudges his nose against hers. "I'll kiss you again if you stay."

She raises an eyebrow. "Well? Get on with it, then."

He happily complies and kisses her again.

* * *

 **A/N well hello everyone how are we**

 **this is the second last chapter im so sad this story is nearly finished! how terrible! real talk though I'm a little sad because this story has become my baby and I love it dearly and I love all of you! and I feel we've all become friends over this story and you guys are so cool it'll be a terrible shame to lose some of you**

 **anyway I hope you liked this anyway! I felt like we needed some fluff, after the rollercoaster this has been. I really hope you enjoyed it, because I had simply grand fun writing it (not gonna lie during annabeth's sappy monologue I played Darren criss's cover of I dreamed a dream from les mis just on repeat for about an hour with a 3-hour rain asmr youtube clip in the background im literally that sad).**

 **also? slightly irrelevant but im 15 next week? how cool is that? i personally think it's an excuse to play fifteen by taylor swift all day and all my friends heavily disagree but I've decided not to let their negativity ruin my fun so next week I'll update you on all the ways they tried to kill me**

 **(also it's snowing again) (I feel like this karma you know? like I was begging for snow and now it's coming in MARCH)**

 **omg also 700! im so sorry I completely forgot! WE REACHED 700 AHHH ISN'T THAT AMAZING THAT'S JUST BONKERS**

 **I was planning on doing a big response thing next chapter so unfortunately our 700 celebration must be postponed to next week but THANK YOU EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! 700 is a goal I never thought I'd achieve – like ever – so honestly you guys are just amazing I love you all**

 **anyway! please tell me what you thought, and I shall see you all next week! xx**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

* * *

"Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through  
But I don't want to dance if I'm not dancing with you"

\- Holy Ground, Taylor Swift

* * *

Percy feels like he's going to throw up.

"You guys will be amazing," Annabeth tells him. "I promise. And whether you win or not, we'll be with you through every step of it, okay?"

Percy takes a deep breath, and then exhales. "Okay."

Annabeth smiles at him softly, and then loops his tie around his head. It's an ongoing joke they have _– what do you mean you can't tie a tie, you're a celebrity, you literally wear a tie for a living_. Every single time there's a carpeted event the band needs to be at Percy comes into the living room with a sheepish look on his face and his tie in his hand, or tangled unpleasantly around his neck, on the rare occasions he tries to do it by himself ("I think you've managed to create a new type of knot, congratulations") and Annabeth just rolls her eyes and does it for him. They never address that he has a stylist to do it for him. Annabeth doing his tie has become an almost ritual. It calms him down, knowing he has his wife with him, even if she can't be with him physically for the event, in something simple as her doing his tie.

It's also ridiculously domestic and Percy is a bit of a sap, so.

Annabeth ties it for him and then tightens it a little around his neck, patting his chest and stepping backwards to admire her handiwork. "There we go," she says. "Dashing, as always."

"Dashing enough to warrant a kiss?"

"Absolutely not," Will says, breezing into the room. "I've just had her makeup done and if you even think about smudging it I will put glue in your shampoo and tattoo dye in your moisturiser, are we understood?"

Percy nods, slightly petrified. He and Will have become very good friends over the years, and they've both seen in each other in vaguely compromising situations, which is enough to cement any friendship, but whenever he's in Stylist Mode, and has a worryingly large arsenal of hairbrushes and hairspray cans that hurt when sprayed in the eyes, at an arm's-length reach, Percy has learnt to respect him and just do what he says.

"Yes, sir," he says.

"Good," Will says, appeased. He steps forward and flattens the lapels of Percy's blazer. "Nice choice on the tie. Flatters the eyes."

"Thanks," Annabeth says. "I picked it out."

"I know," Will says. "As if a straight man chose that."

Percy says, "Hey, that's rude", but it's also slightly true, so when Will grins at him he just rolls his eyes and takes Annabeth's hand.

At that moment, Nico dances in the room. Years of living with Will have thankfully upgraded his wardrobe from no-mom-it's-not-a-phase to something that could pass off as 'mysteriously monochromatic' ("finally!" Nico had cheered. "Look! They wrote an article about me and my mysteriously monochromatic clothes! I've found a magazine with an editor who has a crush on me!" "That's not something you should be saying with your boyfriend in the room," Will had commented mildly) so he looks rather dashing. Percy almost pats him on the back.

"Hey!" he says. "We ready to go?"

"I think so," Will says. "Where's Thalia?"

"I'm here," Thalia says, coming in from the bathroom. She beams at them all. "Let's knock their socks off."

* * *

"Percy, do you have a good feeling about tonight?" one reporter asks.

"I mean, I'd hope so," Percy says. "I don't want to say anything in case I jinx it or whatever, but this album is probably my favourite thing we've ever put out. It's like– what we _are_ , and what we represent, as a band, and if that's good enough to bag us a Grammy, then that would be pretty cool."

From where she's tucked into his side, Annabeth smiles up at him. For a few moments, Percy forgets he's being filmed, and smiles back just as dopily.

What can he say? She's in a beautiful turquoise dress and there are camera lights flashing in the background, and her blonde curly hair is hanging loose around her shoulders, and she just looks so much like the pretty nineteen-year-old he saw on the red carpet at the TCAs all those years ago that he almost can't help himself.

"Of course," Percy says, "I do have my lucky charm here, so, you know, nothing can go wrong."

Annabeth laughs, and buries her face in his shoulder. "You're so embarrassing," she says.

"Embarrassingly in love, babe," he tells her with a wink. The reporter laughs, delighted.

"You got that right," Thalia says, appearing from nowhere. She slings herself in between Percy and Annabeth, and they have to quickly untangle their arms so she doesn't snap them in half. She grins at both of them, giving Percy a mischievous look that he pinches her shoulder blade for. "Sorry if they're being disgusting," Thalia says to the reporter. "They can get a bit much sometimes."

"I thought you were staying with Nico and Will," Percy tells her, slightly snippily.

"Well, I had to say hello, didn't I?" she says, beaming. "And I also recognised this poor reporter beginning to look a bit desperate, which meant that I had to pop on over and get the interview back on track. You have a habit of tending to steer conversations in the direction of Annabeth, which I can tell you with absolute certainty no one cares for."

Annabeth laughs again, her cheeks pink. "Thank you, Thalia."

"I'll have you know we were actually talking about the music," Percy says.

"It's true," Annabeth says. "He'd only talked about me for like four seconds before you appeared."

"Four seconds too much," Thalia says. "I love you, Annabeth, but God, Percy, get a grip."

"I can second that," Annabeth says.

The reporter is enjoying this far too much. She holds her microphone to Thalia. "Well, how are _you_ feeling about this evening?"

"Really good, actually," Thalia says. "We're performing later on, which is really cool, and even if we don't win, I'm really pleased with how this album came together. I think it's our best yet, which I know I say every time, except I really think it is. I think it's enough of an award for us to even make it here."

"You're up against some big names," the reporter says. "Does that intimidate you at all?"

Percy takes the helm of this one. "At one point it would have," he says. "But I think we're confident enough as artists, and a band, and as _family_ , that if we deserve to win, we'll win, whether or not we're against the biggest or smallest artists of the industry. Like Thalia said, it's– this is just madness, to even be invited here. I think we'll probably still celebrate if we don't win."

The reporter nods. "Well, best of luck to you guys. Have a good evening!"

"You too," Thalia says. The reporter gives them all one last smile, and then she moves away, on the prowl for any more celebrities she can catch on camera. As soon as she's gone, Thalia turns to Percy. "Percy. I get it. You're in love. But you've been married for four years. Surely the novelty's worn off by now."

"I didn't say anything too sappy," Percy says. "I just said she was my good-luck charm."

"That's kind of sappy," Annabeth says. "I mean, sweet, but sappy."

"Besides," Percy says. "If Reyna were here you'd be the exact same."

"That's entirely different," Thalia argues, but her cheeks flush a little, and Percy smirks. "And just her not being here is proof that I'm not that dependent on her."

"She's not here because she's in Canada with Jason," Percy says, "and you've been grouchy all evening."

"I have not."

"Yes you have," Annabeth says. "It's okay, everyone's in love, we can celebrate."

Thalia scowls. "At least you guys have your boyfriends here. My girlfriend's halfway across the world."

Annabeth soothingly rubs her shoulder. "I understand. But she's also in Canada, _and_ she said you can Facetime her at any point."

"I guess," Thalia says. "Ugh. Well. I guess for now I have to stick around with you disgusting married couples."

"Speaking of," Percy says. "When are _you_ going to pop the question?"

Thalia's cheeks flame. "This is a very inappropriate question to have here."

"I disagree," he says. "I mean, there's already going to be one p–"

His eyes widen, and so do Thalia's. Annabeth furrows her eyebrows. "One what?"

"One _proper_ married couple," Percy says quickly. "One married– yeah. 'Cause. Us. We're the married couple. We're married. We're a couple. No one else here is married or planning to get married, what a preposterous thought."

Annabeth frowns. "You're being nonsensical."

" _You're_ being nonsensical," Percy says weakly.

"Wow, look over there!" Thalia says. "There's Nico and Will! We should get them over so we can have a group interview and then go inside, doesn't that sound great?"

She darts off to where they're stood before Annabeth can say anything. Annabeth turns to Percy with an eyebrow cocked.

"What's going on?" she asks.

"Nothing," Percy says. "Nothing entirely."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Not at all," he squeaks. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

The Grammys are _crazy._

Percy's been here a few times before, but they've never won anything before. He still remembers the first time they went. Twenty-two, and nominated for Best Pop Group Song, for What If (he's still smug about that, despite losing). Annabeth had tied his tie that night, the first time she'd ever done so, and Thalia panicked and wore a dress and Nico accidentally tripped over his shoelaces on the red carpet. Six years later, it's still just as hectic, but Will and Annabeth are here, and Thalia is in a pantsuit, and they're up for Pop Album Of The Year.

Which means that the Grammys didn't just think one song was enough, but fifteen. Which is _nuts_.

They find their seats rather quickly, and they mill around them, absently talking amongst themselves. At one point, Annabeth tenses up and when Percy asks her what's wrong she squeaks, "I just saw Beyoncé" and Percy has to hold her hand for the next ten minutes for her to stop shaking. Some contemporary artist Percy has never heard of opens the show with a performance that is simply incredible, and Annabeth practically vibrates in her seat.

"What's up?" he whispers to her during a short pause.

"Nothing," she whispers back. "I'm just so excited to be here."

Percy rolls his eyes. "Lame."

"I'm your wife, be respectful."

The show zooms past. Percy keeps his hand on Annabeth's knee the entire time, because he's married and _damn it_ if he's not allowed to want to be close to the love of his life, and they laugh and marvel and gasp at all the performances and wins. At one point, when Adele is performing yet another heartfelt piano ballad, Percy glances over and sees Annabeth snuffling, which isn't unusual, because she's been crying a lot these days, but she's not the only one shedding a few tears.

" _Thalia_?" he hisses.

Thalia stubbornly wipes her eyes. "Shut up, I'm not crying."

She so is. Percy sneakily takes a picture and sends it to Reyna with the caption _what have you done to her shes crying at adele now_. Reyna responds with the laugh-cry emoji and another text message that says _I loved her_ , which makes Percy simultaneously _aww_ and feel slightly affronted, because _he_ loved her, and he loved her a lot longer than Reyna has, but then again he mainly showed his love through using up all the toothpaste and leaving his wet towels all over the floor and Reyna gets to truly be mushy, so he lets it pass.

"You okay?" he whispers to Annabeth.

She sniffs. "This song is so _beautiful_."

"Yeah, but you're, like– _really_ crying."

"It's that beautiful."

Percy just chalks it down to a hormone imbalance, so he leaves her alone. Still, when she picks up his sleeve and surreptitiously uses it to wipe her nose on, he decides he should proper offer some comfort, so he pats her shoulder.

Eventually, there comes the break in the show when they get ready to announce the winner of the Best Pop Album. Percy grabs hold of Annabeth and Nico's hands and holds them tight, and he sees Thalia grip Annabeth's arm. The people presenting the award are two musicians Percy doesn't recognise, or probably does but is just too nervous to properly process them, and their mildly amusing monologue leading up the award feels far too long, even though it can't have been any longer than maybe a minute.

"Remember," Annabeth says. "Whatever happens, we love you, and the album was incredible."

Percy nods stiffly, not really hearing her. Whatever he said about not winning was not really applying here. God, he's going to be _gutted_ if they don't win.

"And now," one of the presenters says. "The Grammy for Best Pop Album goes to..." Together, they open the card. "Rainbows In Concrete Jungles by The Demigods!"

The world around them _explodes_.

Percy stands up shakily, and he hears everyone erupt in cheers around him. Artemis, sitting in front of them, wraps him in a hug, and then when she lets him go Annabeth throws her arms around his neck, crushing him against her. He grabs Nico and hugs him, too, and then he and Thalia fist-bump, because they can't quite reach each other.

"You won!" Annabeth shouts.

"We won!" Nico shrieks hysterically, and then he grabs Will AND kisses him, and turns to Percy, looking like he's considering kissing him, too. " _We won_!"

"Come on, get up there!" Artemis calls.

They all stagger out of their seats, giggling like giddy children. Thalia is practically hopping as they move towards the stage. Fricking _Taylor Swift_ leans out and offers Percy a high-five, and, dizzied, Percy accepts it, and then stares at his hand because _that_ just happened. They climb the stairs to the stage, Nico almost falling flat on his face, and hug the presenters, and then suddenly it's just the three of them, alone onstage, in front a sea of other musicians, musicians who _they beat out_ because _their album was better_.

It's all so overwhelming Percy thinks he might throw up.

"We did it," Thalia says, and her voice reaches the microphone and it echoes around the room. Someone cheers. "Oh my God, we _did_ it."

"Sorry," Nico apologises to the crowd. "We're still in shock."

That gets a laugh. It manages to jerk Percy out of his reverie, and when Thalia hands him the Grammy he just stares at it, stepping up the microphone, cradling it in his hand. "Uh," he says. "Wow. Okay. This is incredible. Thank you all so – so much, wow, oh my God." He puts a hand through his hair. "Uh. Okay. Um, wow, okay, I'd like to thank our team, Apollo and Artemis, you guys are the best, and literally are the reason this album even came together in the first place, and – uh. Thanks to my mom, for being awesome, and thanks to the fans, too, you guys are also seriously awesome. Uh." He gestures awkwardly to Thalia and Nico, who are vibrating next to him. "Thanks to these guys, too. You're all pretty cool. Thanks for being in a band with me." He squints at the crowd. Will's metallic purple suit stands out like a lightbulb. "I'd also like to thank my wife for, uh– being my wife? You're awesome and you helped this album a lot, so thank you."

"Thanks to everyone at Olympus Records, too," Nico says, and Percy almost hits himself because _whoops_ he forgot to mention his own record label. "Uh. Thanks to my boyfriend, you're awesome, and Thalia's girlfriend, you're also very cool, and all our friends and family back home, you guys are amazing and we love you. Uh."

"Just thanks," Thalia says. "To everyone." She takes Percy's hands, with the Grammy in them, and lifts them up a little. "We did it!"

Everyone cheers. Percy sees Will and Annabeth both stand up, clapping. They're clinging onto each other like limpets and the look on their faces is just so beautiful, because they're both so proud and earnest, that Percy's heart swells three sizes. He's got himself a pretty amazing little family here. His cousins, his _siblings_ , are standing next to him, sweating in their suits, with a Grammy in their hands, over an album they wrote at their kitchen table, and the love of his life is standing with the love of Nico's life in the audience, looking radiant, with his wedding ring on her finger, and the love of Thalia's life, and his mom, and Piper, and Jason, and _everyone_ , are all back home, crowded around the TV, watching them win the biggest award of their lives, and he feels like he may just burst.

But it's not over yet.

There's an afterparty that happens. It's quite lowkey, because by "afterparty" Percy means someone hired out a restaurant that everyone has trooped to, and all the blinds have been drawn so none of the paps can get a picture of anything that happens in them. At first, Percy contemplates even going, because they've got themselves a hotel room, and there are several pots of yoghurt ready to be bought and eaten, but because the restaurant is so large and the five of them get their own table, Percy doesn't mind. It's weirdly intimate and private, in a weird, not-at-all kind of way, but Percy loves it. To be obnoxious, he balances his Grammy in the middle of the table.

No one calls him out on it.

"I'm so happy for you, Percy," Annabeth tells him, squeezing his leg under the table. "I'm so, so proud of you. You earned this, and I love you."

"God, I love you, too," Percy says. "I don't think I've ever been so happy."

"A toast," Thalia says. "To us."

"All of us," Nico corrects.

She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. "To all of us."

They clink glasses.

The night passes smoothly. Whoever hired out the restaurant is also apparently paying, which means they get endless refills and also endless food, which Percy takes great advantage of. He eats like a king, ordering plate after plate of chicken wings.

("You're so unclassy," Thalia says.

"You haven't tried these chicken wings," he says, his mouth full. "I think they were handcrafted by God himself.

"Get over yourself, Jackson.")

The party lasts hours. By the time it's reached eleven pm, all the chairs have rearranged, and so have all the tables, so everyone is mingling with each other comfortably. Annabeth was next to him for a good hour or so, excitedly FaceTiming Piper and Jason in LA, but now she's off, talking to some hotshot director about something or other. Thalia is talking to someone, too, but then Nico awkwardly clears his throat and stands up, and she meets Percy's eye, and he nods.

It's time.

Percy stands up to find Annabeth, and gently brings her back to the table. She asks him what's happening, but he just kisses her and tells her to stay put, and then he scopes out Will. Thankfully, he finds him relatively quickly, talking to a man in a suit almost as eye-catching as his own, but Percy politely butts in, and drags Will back.

"What's happening?" Will asks. "I was having a good conversation."

"Trust me," Percy says. "I think you're going to appreciate this more."

Confused, Will allows himself to be seated back at his chair. They've attracted a fair bit of attention, which Percy feels almost giddy at. He practically skips back to his chair, and takes Annabeth's hand.

"What's going on?" she asks.

Percy is so smug is almost hurts. "You'll see."

Thalia stands up and clinks her glass with her spoon. If everyone's eyes weren't on them before, now they are. "Hello, everyone," she says. "If you'd kindly shut up, my dear cousin Nico here would like to say something."

That gets a laugh out of everyone, and they fall relatively quiet. Nico meets Percy's eyes, and Percy nods encouragingly. He can spy several very familiar faces in the crowd, which unnerves the hell out of him, but he wants Nico to be as at ease as possible, so he puts on a brave face and gives him a thumbs-up.

"Uh, thanks," Nico says. He nods at Will. "Will."

Will looks a bit confused. "Nico?"

Nico takes a deep breath, and then goes down on one knee.

Annabeth gasps.

"Oh my God," she says.

"Oh my God," Will says faintly. " _Nico_."

"Will Solace," Nico says, in a loud clear voice, his eyes sparkling. Percy almost crushes Annabeth's hand in his. "We met exactly nine years ago to this day. We were at a photoshoot, and I saw you across the room, wearing purple pants and a matching bow tie, and you were telling someone in the nicest, most pleasant voice I think I've ever heard someone use when insulting, that their views on fashion and photography were just _so_ 2014 and that they should just retire then and there at the ripe age of eighteen because that was their peak and there was no coming back from saying a statement like sweater vests should burn in Hell and that was the moment I think I fell in love."

Will lets out a wet laugh. Percy is on the edge of his seat.

"Then I invited you back to ours for dinner," Nico says. "I said it was so we could compare creative differences and find a nice medium, because I was considering getting you to do our 2018 album cover, which wasn't wrong, except I was also being a bit selfish because I just wanted to be around you for a bit longer. I think you might have known my intentions were slightly less than work-related, though, because of the candles. And the fancy pasta dish. And the fact that we made out for like half an hour."

Percy thinks he hears Thalia whisper something like, "on my _couch_ how dare they" but he completely ignores her. Will laughs again, but his eyes are filled with tears, and when Percy glances to his left Annabeth's are, too.

"You have been with me through _everything_ , Will," Nico says, and then he takes Will's hands in his, and Will lets out a happy sob. "And I love you so much for it. You were there through all of Percy and Annabeth's nonsense, and through Thalia's, as well, but more importantly you were there through mine, when I'd get those sad days about Bianca, or my family. You were there through everything and you stuck by my side and you've made me a better person because of it. I love you so, so much. So–" He lets go of one of Will's hands, and looks at Percy, who grins broadly and hands him the ring box – "you _knew_?" Annabeth hisses –; with a bit of manoeuvring, Nico gets it open, and then holds it out. "Will Solace. Will you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?"

Percy holds his breath. Annabeth's grip on his hand tightens.

And then Will's nodding, so hard that Percy's afraid he's going to nod his head off. "Yes, yes, yes," he says, and he's really crying now. "A thousand times _yes_."

Nico's face breaks out in a smile and he stands up, sliding the ring on Will's finger, and kisses him. Thalia cheers and pulls the string of the party popper that she had produced from her bra – "I had to tell Will I stuffed my bra with rocks to impress Reyna to get him off my chest about that one," Thalia later explains. "I had that party popper in there for hours" – and Annabeth squawks so loudly about the whole thing Percy's afraid his eardrum may have burst. Nico and Will pull away and then crush each other in a hug, and then Annabeth's turning to him and pulling him towards her, too, first in a kiss that takes all of his breath away, and then in a hug so fierce there's not an inch of space between them.

"You knew?" she demands in his ear.

"I was the first person he came to," he says, laughing, and she pinches his nipple harshly and he lets out an indignant screech. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was a secret! How would you feel if I pinched one of your nipples right now?"

"That's an entirely different matter, mine are connected to boobs. I'm just shocked you managed to keep this from me for so long."

"I'm a good actor."

"Don't kid yourself," Thalia calls over the table. "I threatened him with bodily harm if he so much as breathed a word about it."

"You knew, too?"

"Well, of course," Thalia says. "Why else would I have a party popper in my bra?"

The party splits off from there. Percy sees Will and Nico get congratulated by so many people he gets dizzy, and he's not even the one experiencing it, but for the rest of the night they don't let go of each other. They're anchored to each other in some way or other, holding hands, a hand on the back, their shoulders brushing, and they've got matching grins that could light up a house. Percy has never been so happy for him before. He allows himself to be dragged off in conversations with Artemis and some important-looking men he doesn't recognise but apparently are big successful producers who are interested in his work and want to know his writing process. He blushes a bit but allows himself to get carried away with the praise.

After a while, he finds himself trying to scope out Annabeth. So much wedding-talk has him looking for his wife, and he spots her outside, on the balcony. Politely, he excuses himself from the conversation, and makes his way over.

The night air is chilly and there's a nip to the wind that fluctuates between bearable and mildly unpleasant, but Percy still heads over to where she's leaning against the railing. She must be pretty cold, because her dress only has three-quarter sleeves and he's been absently running his hand up her arm all night so he knows that they're _thin_ , but she doesn't seem to mind. Nonetheless, he shucks off his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders, before settling next to her. She starts at the sudden weight on her back, and then when she sees it's him and smiles softly.

"Hey," he says. "Why are you out here?"

She hums and turns back to look at the city, sprawled out in front of them like a glittery carpet. It reminds him of their first Christmas together, when they huddled together on the fire escape and watched New York turn to slumber. "It's nice and peaceful out here," she says. "I just needed to clear my head. I'm having fun, I promise."

"I wasn't worried. You and Carl James were certainly chatting up a storm."

She stares at him. "That was Carl James? Are you serious?"

"I'm surprised you didn't realise."

"He had a beard and was wearing glasses. Oh my God, I talked to Carl James."

"Fan?" Percy asks dryly, with a smile. He already knows the answer.

"Are you kidding? Carl James is like– my directing _hero_. He wrote his first film at sixteen! And shot it at seventeen! And it won an award! He's crazy good! My God, I can't believe I didn't recognise him. If I'd known it was him I wouldn't have told him I was just here as a plus-one. I would tooted my own horn like nobody's business."

"Good thing you didn't, then," Percy says, and she gently elbows him.

"This is my idol, okay. Tell me you wouldn't be the same if I put you in front of Pete Wentz."

"That's an entirely different story. And I thought I was your idol."

"Don't be lame."

"Sorry, sorry."

Together, they watch the night sky blacken. The sky is thick with smog and clouds, but if Percy squints he can make out the faintest hint of stars, and the moon, large and pale, casts silvery shadows across the entire city. Percy glances to his side, and sees Annabeth with her eyes closed, soaking it all in. She's wriggled her arms into the sleeves of his jacket, which is several sizes too big for her, and he has to suppress a smile, because she just looks too cute in it.

"I'm really happy for Will and Nico," she says.

Percy glances at her. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. They deserve this. Was about time, too. They've been dating nine years." She sighs happily and then smiles up at him. "Kind of reminded me of when you proposed to me, actually."

He cracks a grin. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I saw you wipe a few tears away at that one."

"Which one, ours, or Nico's?"

"Both."

"In my defence, I did not expect you to pop the question at _Christmas_."

"It's when we became official. I felt like we had to honour the tradition."

Annabeth laughs, and then settles in against his arm. "Well, it was romantic anyway. Do you remember it?"

"Of _course_ I do. That was one of the scariest moments of my life."

Percy remembers calling his mom months before it happened, panicking because he wanted to do it, but how and where to obtain the ring were different matters entirely. Sally had laughed at him, and then they'd had a long conversation together about if this was what he had really wanted.

"Of course I want this, mom," Percy had said. "She's– God, she's _everything_ to me."

"Marriage is very different to dating. There are going to be times where you're going to resent her, and that's something I can guarantee."

"I want to do this. I want her to be my wife."

He could almost hear her smile across the line. "Then you do it."

He'd asked Piper for permission, before anyone, even before Annabeth's father. They were sitting on the sofa, sharing a can of beans, and trading Jason and Annabeth stories, when Percy had put the can down and taken both her hands.

"Piper," he said seriously.

Piper gave him a weird look. "We both have significant others, don't propose to me."

Percy laughed nervously. "Uh, funny you bring that up, actually."

"You're not actually going to propose to me, are you?" She watched him for a long time, before suddenly it hit her. "Holy crap, you're going to propose to Annabeth."

He'd explained his reasoning and had asked if he had her approval. She'd been quite confused at the beginning.

"Are you asking me for permission?" she said. "Why? Have you spoken to Frederick yet?"

"I was going to do it after you," he said. "You know me, Piper, you know me far better than Frederick does. And you know what makes Annabeth happy. I'm asking you because you'll be able to tell me if I'll be able to make her happy for hopefully the rest of her life."

Piper had looked at him long and hard. In that moment, she was no longer Percy's friend, who only minutes ago had been trading embarrassing stories about Jason with them, and had tried to put baked beans in his hair. She was Annabeth's friend now, Annabeth's _best_ friend. And this was the moment where Percy would find out if he could, and if he would be allowed to, marry Annabeth.

Eventually, Piper had taken his hands. "You're a good guy, Percy," she said. "A little thick, sometimes, and utterly ridiculous, and you come with a whole lot of media baggage that will probably haunt you both until the day you either die or become unpopular, which, considering the trajectories you're both on, doesn't seem likely any day soon, but you're a good guy. Annabeth is happy with you. I haven't seen her so happy, since maybe– ever. She loves you. And you love her."

Percy had felt like a weight has been lifted off his chest. "So– is that a yes?"

"That's a yes," Piper said. She patted his knee. "Go marry her."

"I mean. I'll have to propose first. And she'll have to say yes. But after that, that's the plan."

Frederick had been a little harder to convince. Percy had to do it over Skype, which was not something he ever really wanted to do, because this was really a conversation that needed to happen in person, but he had consoled himself by saying if it went horribly wrong he could just end the call, which he couldn't do if he was in the same room as them.

"Percy," Frederick said when the call started. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Percy said, wiping his sweaty hands down his trousers. "Uh– you?"

"We're good, thank you for asking. Now, what did you want to ask us?"

 _Don't blurt it out. Don't blurt it out. Be graceful. Composed. Impress him with your incredible intellect._

"Annabeth's my wife in all my dreams so please let me marry her in real life, I'll give you ten bucks."

 _God_.

They had ended up sorting through it like proper adults in the end, though. At first, Frederick hadn't even taken him seriously. He thought he was just fooling around. But once Percy had composed himself and stated that yes, he did indeed want to marry his daughter, Frederick had finally realised the extent of his request and had started listening properly. They had talked it out and Percy had produced a list that he and Nico had written together on all the reasons why he'd make a brilliant husband and treat Annabeth with all the love she deserved ("Percy, you can't put _that_ on there, you're talking to her _father_ "), and even though he'd been slightly reluctant at first, he'd eventually agreed.

"You make her happy," he had said. "And that's all I've ever wanted for her."

"Thank you so much, Mr Chase," Percy had said. "I won't let you down."

He, Thalia and Piper went ring-shopping together, and had found a beautiful wedding ring, a plain gold band with a small diamond in the middle of it, and it sat at the bottom of his underwear drawer for months. On a whim, he had put it in the back pocket of his favourite jeans after a while, and there it had stayed for three weeks. He didn't have a date planned. He was just going to do it whenever he felt like he should.

And that happened on Christmas. They were all around Annabeth and Piper's apartment, and Jason was there, too, and was so was Will, and Reyna, and they had all eaten dinner and were sitting just talking in the living room. Percy had looked across the room and saw Annabeth talking with Piper and Reyna and laughing, her head thrown back, in her hideous Christmas sweater, and Bradley strewn over her lap like a throw pillow, and then he had stood up, right in the middle of his conversation with Jason, and went down on one knee.

The entire room had fallen silent.

"Uh, dude," Jason had said nervously. "We're related?"

Will had smacked him sharply upside the head. "It's not for you, don't be obtuse."

Annabeth stared at him. Percy had cleared his throat.

"Annabeth," he says. "I'm– really not very good with words that I haven't mulled over for several weeks, so– this isn't going to be very romantic, or sweet, and I'm really sorry for that, but– you make me so happy. And I love you. And we've both been through hell and back, and we survived, and I think if we can do that then marriage should be a walk in the park, right? So– will you do me the honour of being my wife?"

There had been six long, excruciating seconds where Annabeth had just stood still, and with every second that went by, Percy got more and more anxious. His heartbeat simultaneously slowed down and sped up, because if she rejected him, he might just drop down dead on the spot, but he was also the most terrified he'd ever been.

And then, she nodded.

"Of course I will," she had said, in a voice no louder than a whisper. And then, louder, with tears in her eyes, she said again, "Of _course_ I will."

Percy almost fainted right there. He scrambled up to his feet and kissed her, almost dropping the actual ring in his haste. She had tasted of tears and Christmas, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and when he pulled away she laughed into his chest.

"Oh my God," she had said. "Oh my _God_."

Percy had pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. She just stared at it, and then looked back at him, her eyes wide and glittering with tears and a happiness so great Percy felt the echo of it in his chest.

"I love you so much," she said.

"That's a relief," he said. "We can't really get married if you didn't."

She had just kissed him again.

He smiles fondly at all the memories, and then at Annabeth, in his blazer, tucked up next to him. "That was a good time," he says.

" _This_ is a good time," Annabeth says. "We're _living_ the good times. I mean, look at us. We're unstoppable." She laughs, her voice loud and clear, and beams at the gaping night sky ahead of her. "You guys won a Grammy. Nico's getting _married_ , and us, I mean–" She cuts herself off.

Percy furrows his eyebrows. "Us what?"

Annabeth smiles up at him, slightly nervously. "Percy," she says. "I have something I need to tell you."

Percy feels his heartbeat quicken. "You're not– you don't want a divorce, do you?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous, that's the opposite of what I'm saying." She takes his hand, resting on the railing, and laces her fingers with his. His hands are so much bigger than hers it's almost comical. He just stares at them, and then back at her. "This– is pretty big news, so, uh– please don't freak out."

"Annabeth, you're scaring me."

She just smiles at him, and then takes their conjoined hands, and moves them yowards her. At first, Percy's confused at what's happening, until she rests them on her stomach, and suddenly he _gets_ it. His eyes widen, and he stares at it.

"You're–"

"Percy," Annabeth says. "I'm pregnant."

Percy is so excited he almost flings himself off the balcony.

He just stares at her for a few moments, watches as she nervously bites her lip, and then he scoops her up in a hug so violent her feet leave the floor. "Oh my God," he says into her chest, and she laughs. "Oh my _God_ , _Annabeth_ , we're going to have a _kid_. Annabeth, we're going to have a _kid_."

"I got that part."

"Oh my God! Annabeth!" He rests her back on her feet and then lets go completely, throwing his arms out. "We're going to have a kid!"

Annabeth watches him, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh my God, this is so cool. Annabeth, oh my _God_." He doesn't know what to do. He just can't contain himself. He comes back to her and takes her face in his hands and kisses her, and then pulls away, with his hands on her shoulders. "What do we do? What shall we call it? Do we know the gender? No, of course we don't, it's not been long enough yet. Wait, how long have you known? Does anyone else know? Is that why you got so peeved at me when I didn't tell you about Nico? Were they the baby hormones? Where should it go to school?"

"Percy, breathe."

"I can't breathe, Annabeth, I am _beside_ himself. We're going to be _parents_!"

He laughs into the night, and pulls Annabeth into his arms, resting the back of his hand against her tummy. "When will you start showing?" he asks.

"The doctor said anywhere between 12-16 weeks."

"What week are you on now?"

"Six."

"Six." Percy kisses the side of her head. "Six weeks, oh my God. That's – this is so cool. I can't believe it. We're parents."

"Hold your horses, Rockstar. We're not there yet."

"But we will be." Percy drops his knees in front of her. "Hey, baby."

Annabeth laughs. "Percy, it can't hear you. Its face is only just forming."

"Shh." Percy puts his hand on her tummy. "I know your belly is from eating all those cocktail sausages tonight, but until you start showing I'll just pretend it's the baby. Because the baby's _in_ there somewhere, among those cocktail sausages."

Annabeth laughs.

Percy arranges himself. "Hello, child," he says. "It's me, your dad. You probably can't hear me right now, because your mommy got excited and ate lots and lots, and the food is probably being a good barrier between the two of us right now, but I'm still going to talk to you anyway, just in case you can." He pauses and looks up at Annabeth, who is already looking at him, with the fondest look on her face Percy has probably ever seen. He grins at her, and then looks back at her stomach. "I just want to say that your mommy is probably the best person alive. The best person who I've met, anyway, and I've met Usher, so that's saying a lot. I don't know who you are yet, and you might come out with three eyes and fifteen fingers, although I doubt that, considering the genetics you're inheriting, but I'll love you anyway despite all that. You could even come out green and I'll still love you. And– I just hope I'll be a good dad to you. Because I can tell you now that mommy will be fantastic to you. I mean, she's going to be carrying you in her tummy for nine months, so by default she's already incredible, but I just hope I'll be able to live up to her standards. Because you're ours, and you might be our only child, or you might be one in a long line of like, fifteen – by the way, Beth, we're not having fifteen kids, unless this one pops out an absolute angel, because if we have fifteen it'll increase the chances of one of them growing up prettier than me and I can't have that – oh my God, I'm kidding, we can fifteen kids if we really want – you're shaking your head, good, I don't want fifteen kids either – imagine what kind of car we'd have to buy with fifteen kids, crikey – sorry, off topic. I love you already, baby. You're going to be perfect no matter how you turn out, because you've got a part of Annabeth in you, and Annabeth is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Annabeth sniffles a little. "You're going to be such a good dad, Percy."

He looks up. "You think?"

She nods. "I really, really do."

Percy clambers awkwardly back to his feet and cups Annabeth's cheeks in his hands, thumbing gently over her cheekbones. Her eyes are glittering – "baby hormones," she explains later. "You'll probably have to get used to that" – and in a turquoise dress like the one she wore when they first met and _their child_ inside her, she has never looked so beautiful.

"I love you," Percy says. "You know that?"

She snorts wetly. "You've mentioned it a few times, yeah."

"I'm glad we're married. And I'm so, so glad we're having this child. We're gonna be pretty badass parents."

She nods. "We really are."

He kisses her, and he just knows that their life has only just started.

* * *

 **A/N and here we have the very, very last chapter of silver screen I hope you liked it**

 **im feeling quite sad about this! this story has probably been my favourite thing to write so thank you all so, so much for enjoying it. it's honestly the best feeling in the world to do what you love and have people also love it? like that's so wonderful? thank you all dearly for joining me on this percabeth journey and I love you all for all reviewing and being so nice and wonderful and lovely and just ahh I don't want to say goodbye to this story but alas all things must come to an end**

 **first of all – thank you so, so much for everything you guys have done. your reviews mean the world to me and I love you all. also thank you for all your birthday messages! you guys are the best! I had a wonderful birthday (my good friend Rachel [TheWritingManiac] wrote me a simply BEAUTIFUL story called when the sun came up [you were looking at me] and honestly it's my favourite thing at the moment go check it out she's incredible) and my friends didn't kill me for playing taylor swift all day, which is appreciated XD**

 **some actual thank-yous:**

 **Celticwolves** – thank you so so much! that means a lot to me pal xx

 **JustARandomNerd** – hehe thank you so much! yes im sad it's ending to :( but here's to lots of new percabeth fic woop woop!

 **cursedhazel** – eeeek thank you so much! you're honestly too lovely thank you xxx and yes obviously promise rings physically hurt me what kind of romance writer would I be if I didn't include one

 **Qwertywerido** – yes I am only 15 hehe! thank you for enjoying it! xxx

 **constipated garlic** – (what a username good golly) I wish! unfortunately I felt like this was a good place to end it. also I think some of you were getting a bit sick of just fluff haha

 **RosettaQueen20** – aah thank you! and yes I do actually! I think it might be a gang!au? (I say that very tentatively but there is a big chance that's what's going to happen). thank you for being so wonderful! x

 **EmmaBloomFan22** – isn't she EXCELLENT

 **feelikeaunicorn** – totally cool pal I get you

 **jodanfritz** – ah thanks fellow 15-y-o! isn't it a glorious age

 **TriggedBleach** – thank you so much! I hope this came through for you! x

 **Wisdomsqueen** – ME TOO AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FRIEND XX

 **Athenachild101** [guest] – thank you so much for enjoying it! and yess I might consider a sequel I don't think im quite ready to give up this verse quite yet hehe

 **burnt up feeling** – ily babe xxx

 **Hagbre5498 [guest]** – ahaha that's what I like to hear!

 **Cheerra12** – thank you so so much! xx

 **Penny [guest]** – YOU you're so wonderful ily so much thank you xx

 **thesweetscentofbooks** – no don't worry im sad it's ending too! thank you for enjoying it so much I love you xxx

 **AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter** – ahh thank you! that means so much you're so sweet x

 **King of the Souls** – thanks friend!

 **WiseGirl1609** – AH THANKS! and I most definitely wil not stop writing hehe it's my favourite thing to do

 **weatetheoriginal** – thank you so much! and yess keep reading fanfiction it's good for the soul

 **allineedisabook [guest]** – I don't even know where to start with you other than I love you endlessly. you are so lovely and kind and beautiful and I love you dearLY. thank you for being amazing and just altogether fantastic and im so glad you got snow! the uk really has been hit with quite the winter huh

 **boy [guest]** – thank you!

 **MalasLaBro** – youre welcome haha

 **Badgers101** – ah thanks! and yes I know it's quite sad but thank you for the birthday wishes!

 **HyperCharged** – me too :(

 **06KoolKid101** – oh god 1000 can you imagine? I mean im not sure but if that happens ill be screaming with you haha

 **Just-Your-AAverage-FanGGurl** – thanks! xx

 **Shadow3636** – thank you so much! and im sure you're very good, just keep working at it and it should all flow pretty nicely xx

 **GollyGeeWhiz** – Helena you beautiful beautiful angelcake you already know how much I love you (also I may have stolen the theyna idea off you lolllL) (I love percy being the only straight member of the band it's my aesthetic)

 **Imaguest [guest]** – you're so sweet! thank you so much friend xxx

 **Thank you to simply everyone who's ever reviewed, I love you all dearly! please tell me what you though and I shall hopefully see you all soon! xxx**


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